The Murray Darling Basin Authority is to be stripped of its compliance powers, under sweeping changes announced by federal Water Minister Keith Pitt.
Mr Pitt told a NSW Farm Writers' Association webinar that a new Office of Inspector General for Water Compliance would be set up, separate from the MDBA.
"To do this I will merge the MDBA's compliance functions, with the existing Interim Inspector General of Murray Darling Basin Water Resources, which will consolidate the Commonwealth's regulatory responsibilities, when it comes to water in the Basin," Mr Pitt said.
"In effect, it will split the MDBA by separating its compliance office to another institution.
"This will put to bed any perception that the MDBA is structured in a way, to mark its own homework."
The Minister ruled out any more water buybacks.
Bipartisan support
The commonwealth has adopted key Victorian positions on the Murray Darling Basin Plan, according to Water Minister Lisa Neville.
"I've long argued against buybacks," Ms Neville said.
"We know communities in Northern Victoria have suffered very serious socio-economic impacts from water buybacks - loss of productive water from farms, loss of jobs, loss of economic activity and associated social impacts.
"The socio-economic test will still apply for infrastructure projects to recover water - my position has always been that infrastructure projects that reduce system losses are the best way to recover water for the environment."
She welcomed a greater emphasis on enforcement and compliance.
"Our farmers have done the heavy lifting - and hard-earned water for the environment needs to be properly accounted for and protected."
Ms Neville said Mr Pitt had also assured her that on farm efficiency projects would not be part of future water recovery.
The Victorian Government had a long standing and consistent position against buybacks and had worked hard to meet its Basin Plan obligations without taking more water from farmers.
While no further buybacks were welcome, Victoria remained strongly committed to the socio-economic criteria agreed by Basin governments that guaranteed projects with negative impacts for communities won't proceed.
Victoria has met - or identified projects to meet - its legal obligations for water recovery under the Plan, with 800 gigalitres achieved and projects to reach its obligation of 1075 gigalitres under way.
Any further recovery projects need to meet the strict socio-economic criteria.
Victoria has also supported the Productivity Commission's recommendations, handed down in 2019, to split the MDBA's policy and enforcement functions to ensure no real or perceived conflict of interest.
Ms Neville said there was still significant work to do on deliverability to ensure proper operating rules and flow regimes were in place.
Improved deliverability rules would also ensure water being delivered to irrigators could be moved through the system without causing environmental damage to rivers, including the Murray and the Goulburn.
Victorian opposition Agricuture spokesman Peter Walsh said the split would help resolve conflicts in the Authority.
"Victorian irrigators have long had concerns that the MDBA has just become a massive bureaucratic machine caught up in the Canberra bubble," Mr Walsh said.
"We will be pushing for the new statutory body to be established as a priority to help restore irrigators' confidence in the Plan and that it's working for the benefit of all river users."
The Productivity Commission recommended the split in January 2019, saying it was "an inherently conflicted entity and is perceived as such by stakeholders".
The Commission found the MDBA "marks its own homework" and recommended separating the MDBA's responsibilities for river operations, implementation of the Basin Plan and its regulatory role.
"Victorian irrigators have done the heavy lifting to return water to the environment. It has pushed our Basin communities to breaking point," Mr Walsh said.
"We can't afford to lose any more water."
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Mr Pitt said the government was committing $30 million to bolster compliance and another $8 million for administration.
In announcing what he said was an action plan to refresh the Murray Darling Basin Plan, Mr Pitt said the government "unequivocally" ruled out future buybacks.
The government was investing $234.2 million to put communities at the centre of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan by focusing on the jobs and economic activity the Plan can generate in regional areas.
Mr Pitt said the Murray-Darling Communities Investment Package detailing 11 new initiatives to keep the Basin Plan on track.
"My focus is on delivering the highest accountability when it comes to managing our scarce water resources by establishing a new statutory compliance role separate from the MDBA," Mr Pitt said.
"I'm also reaffirming the Australian Government's commitment to recovering the 450 GL needed to achieve enhanced environmental outcomes but I will not put further pressure on irrigators to recover this through buybacks - my focus will be on off-farm efficiencies.
"My focus is squarely on increasing the efficiency of water use in the system, including for the environment, I want to rebalance the system and not just through the blunt tool of water buybacks," he said.
"I will not take any more water from our communities than is already required."
Federal authorities have purchased about two-thirds of water recovered for the environment from irrigators.
In 2015, a cap was written into law, ensuring no more than 1,500 gigalitres of water savings could be obtained through buybacks.
To date, 1,230 gigalitres of water has been recovered from farmers through buybacks, 700GL has been recovered from infrastructure projects and 255GL has come from on-farm upgrades.
Mr Pitt said he there was $235 million available for programs as off-farm water infrastructure projects.
"I am advised by my department, with a pivot to off-farm projects, 150GL of water savings are possible, and there are more than 50 proposals already on the table," he said.
"Of the water recovery required, to meet the sustainable limits in the Basin Plan, well over 95per cent has already been recovered, the heavy lifting has been done.
"We are very close to the finish line, on this important reform."
Farmer welcome
The Victorian Farmers Federation also welcomed Mr Pitt's action on key VFF Basin Plan priorities.
VFF President David Jochinke said he was pleased the Minister had committed to no more buybacks but said that commitment needs to be legislated.
"I take the Minister's comments at face value but I won't sleep soundly until I see no more buybacks in an Act of Parliament," Mr Jochinke said.
"We put our clear plan to Mr Pitt when he took on the portfolio and are glad to see action on splitting up the MDBA.
"We would like to see the MDBA split in three (implementation, compliance and operations) but acknowledge that carving off the compliance function is a step in the right direction."
Water Council chairman, Richard Anderson said it was good to see recognition that the Basin Plan was not a rigid document and that it was designed to change and adapt.
"We've been banging on about this for years: the Basin Plan is supposed to be a living document, just like the rivers themselves," Mr Anderson said.
The VFF questioned whether the $20 million allocated for the wide and far-reaching river health program was sufficient.
"We need to ensure complimentary measure projects are built into the 605 GL and that these are properly funded," Mr Anderson said.
Mr Pitt also acknowledged the release of the Water for the Environment Special Account (WESA) report, which confirmed that 450GL of additional water on top of the Basin Plan's 2750GL target could not be met by 2024.
"The VFF acknowledge the Minister's comments on the 450GL but we would like to see the futility of the 450GL recognised through legislation," Mr Anderson said.
"It was a step in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go."
New measures
MDBA chair Sir Angus Houston said the new measures represented a boost in support for communities and address some of the issues the MDBA had been hearing about from stakeholders in recent times.
"We welcome investment in the three key areas-supporting communities, building trust and transparency, and improving the implementation of the Basin Plan," Sir Angus said..
"The additional funds to monitor conditions in the Basin will help to build the collective understanding of the economic, social and environmental health of the nation's most important river system.
" The Minister has announced the MDBA will be leading this work and we look forward to collaborating with the science community and state governments to ensure it is based on the best information available."
He said the MDBA recognised the need to update the 20-year-old hydrology models used by the authority, state governments and science community to understand the Basin's rivers and water ways.
"The proposed investment by the government is a necessary first step. It's important that our scientists and other water managers and researchers have the most up-to-date systems available to do their job."
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Mr Pitt also released the Sefton Report, which he said indicated the distrust, among Basin communities.
He said Sir Angus was ideally placed to help.
"The trust deficit needs repair and noone is better placed to mend that gap,' Mr Pitt said.
In response to the 2018 Productivity Commission five year assesment into the Plan, Mr Pitt said all governments must do more when it came to accountability and transparency.
He said the government would establish "a single point of truth" when it came to accurate and updated information.
"It will be a one-stop shop for information about inflows into water storages, about such things as the amount of water in storages, environmental watering, flow rates and, trade information."
it was another critical component to ensuring compliance was transparent, independent and of the highest standards.
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