Buybacks triple market price

Senator Davey called on the government to halt buybacks after a recent report showed payments in some cases had exceeded the market rate by more than 200 per cent.

“Back in 2021, analysis conducted by Marsden Jacobs estimated the cost to recover the extra 450 Gl water via infrastructure would be between $3.4 billion to $10.8 billion dependent on product type,” Senator Davey said.

“Fast forward to today and those estimates are behind current market rates which the government via its first water tender has paid on average 20 to 30 per cent premium on water it has purchased, and in (one) case up to 200 per cent.

“Taxpayers will need to find billions of extra dollars under Labor’s single solution Murray-Darling Basin Plan.”

Senator Davey said farming communities were ‘crying out’ against the undermining of regional economic viability due to the buybacks.

“Just this week we have heard from a summit in Bendigo that the dairy industry has seen milk production fall by 35 per cent since the commencement of buybacks under the basin plan,” she said.

“The number of dairy farms has fallen by 47 per cent across the basin; this level of consolidation and constriction in an industry is unsustainable.”

She said current cheese and dairy prices were higher under the current government and would increase with further buybacks.

“Cuts to regional infrastructure, covering prime agricultural land in renewables and transmission lines and focusing on inner city issues is increasingly making our regional communities, including the community I live in, feel isolated.

“Whether it is banning live sheep exports, making business report on scope three emissions — which will flow down to farm businesses, the biosecurity farmer tax or water buybacks; this Labor Government does not care about one of our most productive sectors.”

National Irrigators’ Council CEO Zara Lowien told the rally that farmers were feeling under ‘siege’ and said the government needed to invest in non-water options to complement water already recovered.

“We need government to get out of Canberra to discuss solutions to our problems where they occur and include everyone who matters as part of the discussion,” Ms Lowien said.

“We (have) a government that is selective, almost secretive, in their consultations, wanting to favour some stakeholders over others and seems to make decisions without all the facts, with no care for the impact it will have on people and rural communities.”

Ms Lowien said the NIC had estimated $602million to $914 million had been lost in agricultural production.

“That’s lost GDP, lost jobs and less food and fibre that drive up grocery prices at the checkout.

“Those losses hurt our regional economies and communities, as populations decline, you see less school enrolments, less schools and services impacting the heart of a rural town.”

NSW Irrigators’ Council CEO Claire Miller also warned making food production more expensive for farmers will ‘inevitably’ increase prices for consumers.

“Economics 101 says higher inputs means higher outputs,” Ms Miller said.

“Water grows food, and if water becomes more expensive, the cost of growing food goes up; we know the supermarkets aren’t going to absorb that cost, so it lands squarely with the consumer.”

Ms Lowien said farming mattered to every Australian.

“We produce the world's most efficient, sustainable food and fibre and have a critical role in feeding and clothing our nation,” she said.

“When agriculture is doing well, so are Australians.”