Wrong water option
THERE is no logical, common-sense answer to why the Albanese Government is trying to rush through its water recovery strategy before Christmas. Nor are water buybacks the best recovery method.
From the outset, achieving best results from the Murray-Darling Basin Plan has been compromised by timelines and political agendas. We all want a plan that protects our environment, communities and food-producing farmers. This will not be achieved with haste.
The current flood situation across the Basin has delivered sufficient water for immediate environmental needs. It therefore makes sense to take stock of what water has been recovered and how it can be used for maximum benefit.
The Basin Plan was developed during the Millennium Drought and a lot has since changed. Rather than being in such a rush to finish the plan, at this point we should be reviewing whether sufficient water has been recovered, and what additional measures can be undertaken to achieve the right balance between all needs, including growing food to help ease cost of living pressures.
And perhaps there are better ways to manage our water and therefore minimise the cost of recovery, such as broader criteria around efficiency projects, utilising the Adelaide desalination plant, or other infrastructure works around the end of the system.
Barging ahead with buybacks, which seems the preferred option of Water Minister Plibersek and her Canberra-based bureaucracy, might be the easy option, but it’s not the best one for an “adaptable plan”.
Lloyd Polkinghorne
Deputy chair
Speak Up Campaign
