The states will be given more time to deliver on their pledges to return water to the environment under the Murray-Darling Basin plan despite concerns another El Niño event could deliver more devastating droughts to eastern Australia.
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority has formally advised there would be a shortfall of 750 gigalitres – about 25% of the target – by June 2024, when the plan was due to be completed. That’s the equivalent of 300,000 Olympic swimming pools.
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, declined to say exactly how much longer she was prepared to give the states.
“We’re certainly not talking five or 10 years,” she said. “We are talking about some extensions with an increased expectation of delivery.
“When the temperature gets hotter again, when the rain stops falling and the river stops flowing, we will seriously regret it if we don’t act now,” she added.
“We don’t want Australians to wake up one day with a dead river system and find out their governments could’ve stopped it.”
The formal advice from the Murray-Darling Basin Authority triggers power for the federal government to buy back more water to achieve the plan’s outcomes, but Plibersek remained coy as to whether she would use this power.
The decision to give the states more time to implement projects rather than moving to buybacks will disappoint environment groups, which have warned delays “would risk terrible damage to the environment during the next drought”.
“With the UN declaring an El Niño and Australia facing a dry spell, right now is the worst possible time to deprive wetlands and wildlife of the water they will need to survive tough times ahead,” the Conservation Council of South Australia chief executive, Craig Wilkins, said.
Plibersek blamed the shortfalls on the Coalition government, which she claimed “waged a decade-long guerrilla war” on the plan.
She said 84% of water recovered for the plan had happened under Labor, compared with only 16% during nine years of Coalition government.
“The consequences of this are alarming and extreme,” she said.
The states are due to meet with Plibersek in August and, unlike during previous negotiations, all basin states are now controlled by Labor governments, which should increase the chances of cooperation.
However, Victoria is still insisting the final 450GL of environmental water that was agreed to bring South Australia on board is not part of the formal plan.
The Albanese government has already announced a further 49GL of water buybacks to complete the part of the plan known as “Bridging the Gap”, which was always going to be achieved through buybacks, but which was halted by the former Nationals minister, Barnaby Joyce.
But the two other components of the plan – 605GL which was to be achieved by projects that save water or use it more efficiently and the 450GL that also involves efficiency projects – are well behind schedule.
“It is very clear that to achieve the plan in full, we will have to deliver on infrastructure projects, we have to deliver the water resource plans in New South Wales, and we’ll need to be purchasing water,” Plibersek said, leaving open the door to more buybacks.
The Environment Victoria chief executive, Jono La Nauze, said the 450GL of water mandated for the environment needed to be recovered as quickly as possible using voluntary water purchases.
Plibersek also foreshadowed further action might be needed to ensure the river’s health in the face of climate change.
“If we don’t prepare for those dry years, all Australians will suffer – risking our access to affordable food and water, with mass environmental collapse, dying native animals, choking fish, and intense pressure on river communities,” she said.
Irrigators welcomed the decision to extend the timeframe for delivery of the plan outcomes but signalled they would fight any further buybacks.
“There are other options to deliver the remainder of the basin plan without one more drop coming from food and fibre production,” the NSW Irrigators’ Council acting chief executive, Christine Freak, said.
The targets in the plan – to recover 3,200GL from agriculture and return it for environmental flows – were due to be realised by June 2024.
About 70% of the water was recovered through buying back entitlements for farmers. Labor completed this task after winning government in 2022.
But two other programs – one involving projects to use water more efficiently and another to recover a further 450GL via on-farm projects, which was the price of South Australia signing up to the plan – have failed to deliver.
