Irrigators in the local area are one step closer to having Commonwealth water buybacks capped, thanks to legislation introduced to Federal Parliament on Thursday.
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“The 1500 gigalitre water buyback cap is something I pushed for when I crossed the floor on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in 2012,” Riverina MP Michael McCormack said.
“It is vital that Basin communities have confidence and stability, and the introduction of the cap on water buybacks is an important step in delivering what we promised at the last election.”
Mr McCormack reiterated that Basin policy needs to consider a triple-bottom-line approach.
“Capping buybacks won’t just help farmers and irrigators, it will also shore up Basin businesses, communities and other stakeholders which keep vibrant towns and cities such as Griffith, Leeton and Coleambally going,” Mr McCormack said.
“Whilst the environment is important, equally so are the people and the economies of Basin communities.”
National Irrigators’ Council (NIC) chief executive officer Tom Chesson welcomed the Coalition’ support for legislation to cap water buybacks in the Murray Darling Basin to 1500 gigalitres.
Mr Chesson said the 1500 gigalitre cap on water buyback would help to improve community and business confidence in the irrigated agriculture sector in the Murray Darling Basin and sets a limit on how much water would be recovered through water purchases.
He said with the drought escalating in many regions it was important that long term certainty was cemented into the fabric of the Basin Plan, and the communities that depend on irrigation could be confident they were not going to be decimated by another round of non-discriminatory, ‘no regrets’ water buybacks.
“Whilst the 1500 gigalitre cap does not change the volume of water that has to be recovered under the basin plan, the social and economic damage that buybacks do to communities can be somewhat mitigated by allowing irrigators to invest in technologies which allow them to produce more with less,” Mr Chesson said.
“We are confident that no political party wants to inflict any more social and economic pain on regional communities already struggling to adapt to a life with less water with around 4,000,000 megalitres of water entitlements already removed from irrigation communities over the last decade. We trust that the legislation to cap water buybacks will continue the tradition of bipartisan political support in the Murray Darling Basin.”
Mr Chesson said investing in water infrastructure to grow the food and fibre that people need to survive is the best climate mitigation program the government can invest in to secure the nation’s food security.