THE Nationals’ amendments to the Murray Darling Basin Plan, put forward to the Senate on Wednesday, have been met with criticism by Environment Victoria.
The push to amend the Basin Plan, in addition to the Water Act, came from Member for Mallee Anne Webster and Member for Nicholls Damian Drum, in what the party has described as an attempt to address basin communities’ concerns about water availability during the drought.
The National Party is proposing four key amendments to the Water Act (2007) and Basin Plan Act (2012):
* remove up to 450GL of water
* remove buybacks
* enable new offset projects
* no further water to be taken when the Basin Plan concludes in 2024
“For too long our basin communities have been hurting,” Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie said. “The science is now telling us the approach adopted 12 years ago is outdated and the Plan must change.”
Dr Webster said: “Our farmers need certainty to farm with confidence. They need to know no further water can be taken.”
But chief executive of lobby group Environment Victoria, Jono La Nauze, said the amendments were “opportunistic”.
“Removing the 450 gigalitres from the agreement would sign the death warrant for the Coorong and increase the frequency of fish kills and toxic algal blooms,” Mr La Nauze said.
“This kind of opportunistic posturing by the Nationals risks the only framework we have to manage Australia’s largest river system.”
