A CHANGE of government in South Australia has ignited calls to de-politicise the Murray Darling Basin Plan and remove damaging, political fearmongering.
After 16 years in power, Jay Weatherill’s Labor was replaced by Steve Marshall’s Liberals at the weekend’s election as minor parties like former federal Senator Nick Xenophon’s SA-BEST Party, Cory Bernardi’s Conservatives and the Greens all failed to meet pre-poll expectations.
Former Water Minister Ian Hunter’s overt politicisation of water policy issues like alleged water theft and support for a recent disallowance motion that torpedoed moves to adjust the northern Basin’s water savings target by 70 gigalitres in light of the SA election, despite not having any actual impact on environmental outcomes, has angered rural communities; even the state’s farm sector.
Mr Hunter was booted out of a federal Senate inquiry hearing in Adelaide last November by his federal Labor colleague and WA Senator Glenn Sterle who labelled the state minister’s unusual actions a “political stunt”.
He was also chastised for abusive language towards state and federal water ministerial colleagues at a meeting in late 2016 as then Federal Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Barnaby Joyce sought to resolve practical difficulties with delivering SA’s extra 450GLs in the Basin Plan, without hurting the environment or farmers.
Mr Hunter is now expected to be replaced by the Liberal shadow minister for water and the environment David Speirs, with announcements expected this week.
SA federal Liberal MP and Chair of the Coalition’s Agricultural Backbench Policy Committee Tony Pasin said the change of government meant for the first time in 16 years in South Australia “we’ll have a government which is made up of a healthy rural, regional and remote representation”.
Mr Pasin said also, the “faux politicisation of the Basin Plan can now end”.
“The cheap politics around delivering the Basin Plan in full and on time can now end because there will be no political incentive to play the cheap political games that have put the Basin Plan at risk,” he said.
Mr Pasin conceded it was “”unlikely” anyone would be bemoaning the change of water minister in SA in light of Basin Plan outcomes.
“The reality is the river communities know the Basin Plan intimately and they understand South Australians stood to gain the most from the plan’s implementation and therefore stood to lose the most from city based members of parliament and ministers who wanted to play politics with the plan to improve their re-election prospects in the city,” he said.
The SA Labor government also sought to amplify political hysteria pre-election as Mr Hunter established a Royal Commission into the Basin Plan – despite a plethora of other politically charged examinations already underway, triggered by media reporting on compliance issues in the NSW Barwon-Darling section of the river system.
Mr Pasin said his understanding was the Commission’s inquiry would continue but he has never supported that state based examination.
“I’ve always said a number of inquiries were already on foot and if any of those inquiries highlighted the need to embark on a more substantive national Royal Commission I’d support that - but at this stage I’ve not seen that evidence,” he said.
Federal Assistant Agriculture and Water Resources Minister and SA Liberal Senator Anne Ruston has previously accused SA Labor of “absolute lies and scaremongering” on Basin Plan matters.
But Senator Ruston expressed relief at the weekend’s election result saying she now expected water policy issues involving SA and the federal government to “settle down and we’ll get the politics out of the equation”.
She said the Coalition had “never deviated from the position of delivering the Murray Darling Basin Plan in full which was the commitment of the federal government”.
“I’ve already spoken to Steven Marshall and his team and they’re commitment is the delivery of the plan in full,” she said.
“In a sense nothing changes but we’ll get the politics out of the argument.”
Senator Ruston said the consequences of the Northern Basin review disallowance motion that passed the Senate recently was leading Basin states NSW and Victoria had now taken a “stand-off position and waiting to see if we can get it back on track”.
“But if we can regroup, cool our jets and get on with it we can get the plan delivered,” she said.
“It was disappointing that we saw politics played with it in the lead up to the South Australian election but it’s over now and we’ve got a new government that’s equally committed to the delivery of the plan.
“I think we’ll see a calmer and more consistent response and approach to the delivery of the plan but not a great deal of change – we’ll just work as hard as we can do get it done.
“We need to be really clear the Royal Commission has no impact whatsoever on our commitment to deliver the plan.”
National Irrigators Council CEO Steve Whan said his group congratulated the new SA government and looked forward to working cooperatively with them to implement the Basin Plan.
“We would hope the new government will be aware of the very real negative impacts that rejecting the Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Measures could have on South Australian irrigators and Riverland Communities and be willing to work to ensure the amendment is not disallowed by the Senate,” he said.
“The Basin Plan is currently on a knife edge.
“Obviously the new government in South Australia will be expected to stand up for the interests of its state, but irrigators would hope it is able to do so in a way which encourages a cooperative approach leading to a successful basin plan and not the destruction of the plan.
“It’s entirely up to the South Australian government if they want to spend their taxpayers’ money on a Royal Commission.
“Irrigators have nothing to hide so we are certainly not afraid of the scrutiny and at this stage NIC is planning to make a submission.”
A spokesperson for the Murray Darling Basin Authority said they worked with all Basin governments to deliver on the Basin Plan’s aims, to secure a sustainable future for the environment, communities and industries in the Basin.
“The MDBA looks forward to working with the South Australian government to deliver the Basin Plan in full and on time,” a statement said.
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