Water is an issue that runs deep across northern Victoria and one the VFF has worked tirelessly on.
Without water we cannot farm up here, and I am committed to continue the VFF’s efforts in fighting for change to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
The basin plan has often been described as an adaptive plan, but 12 years on, this has been forgotten by those responsible for implementing it.
We have had four Commonwealth water ministers throughout these 12 years, but there has been little preparedness to acknowledge problems and amend the plan.
The Commonwealth has ignored the lessons of the past and has failed to respond in any meaningful way to fix the problems that have emerged during the past decade.
On Thursday, basin ministers and the Commonwealth Water Minister will meet to largely discuss progress with the 36 Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism (SDLAM) or offset projects.
These projects would produce offsets of 605 Gl of water not having to be recovered from the consumptive pool.
The big problem is that some of the most important offset projects have been strongly rejected by the community.
We know today that constraint relaxation projects cannot be implemented because of community members’ opposition to having their land flooded.
It’s also likely the expected environmental benefits of the constraints measures will not be delivered because of the reduction in water availability caused by climate change.
The VFF estimates there will be a 200 Gl shortfall in the 605 Gl by 2024 and the Commonwealth is legally obliged to meet this shortfall.
In 2014 the Commonwealth committed that any shortfall would be met through water buybacks but in 2020 promised it wouldn’t buy back water — but is yet to explain how any shortfall will be addressed.
The legislation is so prescriptive that new projects cannot be introduced.
The VFF is urging ministers on Thursday to agree on ways to create some flexibility regarding the 605 Gl projects so that commonsense can prevail.
While this ministerial meeting is only considering the offset projects, the VFF has a number of issues remaining with the basin plan.
Farmers need to know the 450 Gl is off the table; we need to see greater effort to clean up the northern basin; we need to acknowledge the physical constraints of our river system; and we need a fair water market working in the best interest of irrigators.
I am committed to fighting for Victoria and doing my very best to get a fair and just outcome for farmers across Victoria.
Andrew Leahy is the newly appointed VFF Water Council chair and a dairy farmer at Murrabit.
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