JOBS and irrigation are set to dominate the Murray Darling agenda, as the Basin Authority considers responses to its northern review.
Cotton Australia general manager Michael Murray said the projected 710 job losses across the Northern Basin is unacceptable. The figure is estimated by the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) under its maximum recovery target of 390 gigalitres.
“Communities can’t afford to lose that many jobs – that is an estimated 5 per cent across the north west Basin,” Mr Murray said.
“If a politician stood in the western suburbs of Sydney or Melbourne and said it was introducing policy to reduce jobs by 5pc, there would be rioting.”
Last week the window closed for public and stakeholder feedback to the Northern Basin Review, which recommended overall water recovery from current productive use be reduced - from an initial target of 390 gigalitres to 320GL.
A report on the submissions will be made to the Ministerial Council of Basin states, which meets on Match 17, before the MDBA advises the final arbiter, federal Water Minister Barnaby Joyce – who will seek approval for any changes in federal parliament in June-July.
Farm groups and irrigation communities are urging the MDBA to implement so called toolkit, or complimentary measures, to achieve the Basin Plan’s environmental objectives.
Essentially, complimentary measures achieve an equivalent environmental outcome to straight water recovery, which don’t require water recovery - and therefore lower the reduction the targets set when the Basin Plan was mapped out in 2012.
These measures could also include re-snagging rivers to increase native fish habitat and access to spawning runs, re-stocking native species, programs to remove harmful feral carp, restoration of riparian habitat among others.
Farm groups have argued high flows under the MDBA’s environmental watering regime can, while delivering water to wetlands, cause damage.
Earlier this month, National Carp Control Plan co-ordinator Matt Barwick reported carp had spawned in their millions on floodplains after recent floods, while landholders in the southern Basin have complained of river bank erosion.
But Australian Conservation Foundation, which in its submission to the review said the proposed 70GL reduction proposal was a “failure of leadership, argued against substitution of water recovery through complimentary measures.
“It is grossly inappropriate to propose (complimentary measures) as a substitute for environmental flows,” the foundation’s submission said.
The foundation said complementary measures should not be used to boost water for agriculture.
“Measures to ameliorate the negative ecological consequences of river regulation, such as fishways and control of cold water pollution, should be a basic obligation on infrastructure operators to ensure that their operations do not have unacceptable ecological impacts.”
National Irrigators Council chief executive Steve Whan argued so-called complimentary measures are essential to river health.
“We will not get healthy rivers without putting in place complementary measures,” Mr Whan said.
“Just focusing on numbers of litres of water will not result, for example, in a healthy native fish population.
“It is well known that releasing cold water from the bottom of a dam makes it almost impossible for native fish to breed and, if released at the wrong times, can boost carp spawning.”
Mr Murray said it would cost around $500 million for government to buy back the irrigation entitlement to recover the remaining 116GL to hit a 390GL target.
Meanwhile, NSW and Victoria state governments have commissioned an independent expert panel to review the MDBA’s modelling methods, or calculations for water recovery.
Up to 650GL can be taken from the overall reduction target through water saving projects.
The MDBA will assess the effectiveness of projects proposed by the states.
The panel will allow NSW and Victoria state governments to question the level of water saving ascribed to their project, if they think it falls short.
