Murray-Darling Basin states and the Commonwealth were close to an agreement on the final water savings, due to be delivered by the end of the month, according to Victorian Water minister Lisa Neville.
Ms Neville told the Victorian Parliamentary Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) hearing she was confident the 650gigalitre (GL) savings would be delivered.
“We have all come back to the table, to try and find a way to make sure the projects and investment do deliver the 650GL, without further buybacks,” Ms Neville said.
Victoria had nine capital projects, equivalent to $300million, to put on the table, at the June 16 meeting.
“We are confident, with the work that is happening between now and June 30, we will have reached an agreement that will have seen that we have delivered the water savings and there will be no more water buybacks.”
She said the Murray Basin water minister’s meeting, in Canberra in a fortnight’s time “should lock this down.”
But she said the basin states felt some of the assumptions, underpinning the water savings were wrong.
“This is a complex system, that - in our view - can’t just be based around the really tight rules the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) continue to try to do,” Ms Neville said.
“Some of those assumptions are incorrect.”
But she said she was hopeful the states and Commonwealth could “get the money out the door and get the projects off the ground.
“It’s all theory, at the moment,” she said.
The Victorian projects can be found at:
National Irrigators Council (NIC) chief executive Steve Whan said the basin ministers meeting was the one where the sustainable diversion limit (SDL) adjustments would be put forward.
“I continue to hear positive feedback from most people involved about the prospects of those projects amounting to the full 650GL allowable for offsets, though only time will tell how accurate that is,” Mr Whan said.
An MDBA spokesperson said through a suite of projects in the southern Basin, the amount of water that needed to be recovered for the environment, would be reduced.
“Basin States have until June 30 to propose projects for consideration under the SDL,” the spokesperson said.
“The projects will focus on improving our rivers and waterways to help the animals, fish and plants of the Basin.
“The final (gigalitre) figure of the reduction is being worked on now by our modellers.”
