VFF Water Council chair Andrew Leahy said the response from Water Minister Tanya Plibersek to a question from South Australian MP Rebekha Sharkie’s in Parliament ignored the history behind the 450GL up-water target.
“Minister Plibersek is rewriting history when she comments that every state must do what they promised and return the 450GL to the system,” Mr Leahy said.
“The 450GL was a political deal struck between the Commonwealth and South Australia to get them to sign up to the Basin Plan. It was not a deal with Victoria and NSW.
“Minister Plibersek is also ignoring the comments her colleague Tony Burke made in 2012 when he said delivery of the 450GL would only be possible if there was no social and economic down-side.”
Mr Leahy said the Commonwealth must respect the position of the Victorian Government, which has repeatedly stated it does not support water buybacks.
“The 450GL was never promised by Victoria. In fact, the Victorian Government in 2012 ran with a headline press release that a 3200GL Basin Plan is unacceptable,” he said.
“I have recently spoken to the new Victorian Water Minister, Harriet Shing, and she has reaffirmed the Victorian Government’s position to me that it does not support buybacks as they do not pass the socio-economic test agreed to in 2018 by state and federal water ministers.”
Mr Leahy said the Commonwealth Government was desperate to recover the 450GL for South Australia, but was ignoring the impact on the remaining states.
“The Commonwealth keeps talking down the plan, saying it has not delivered for the environment, when in fact it has delivered over 2100GL, which is having a positive impact on the health of our rivers,” he said.
“Water buybacks were responsible for over 10,000 full-time job losses in agriculture, the majority of those in northern Victoria. If the Commonwealth gets its way and implements a buyback policy, we’ll see more jobs in regional communities on the chopping block.”
Mr Leahy said the Commonwealth Government must come clean on how it expects to recover the 450GL and avoid negative impacts on communities.
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