The city’s chief executive officer, Peter Harriott, and Mayor Shane Sali recently met with Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek.
The council wants to see an extension of time for the completion of the basin plan so that appropriate environmental infrastructure works and measures can be completed.
At its meeting on August 15, the council dealt with a notice of motion put by Cr Geoff Dobson.
“If remaining water is to be sourced to meet the targets of the basin plan outside of the environmental infrastructure works and measures, that this water be sourced from areas other than the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District,“ the motion said.
All councillors, apart from Cr Sam Spinks, voted in favour of the motion.
Cr Dobson said that as of May 31, 2107 Gl of surface water had been recovered for environmental purposes under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
“It is interesting to note that in 2021, the total Australian urban consumption of water was a touch over 1800 Gl.”
He said he supported the basic concept of the plan, as without a healthy river system communities will not survive.
However, measures of the economic impact of the plan implemented since 2012 revealed that the impact is at least 10 times that of the closure of the coal-fired power stations in the Latrobe Valley, and is estimated to be close to $1 billion annually to the region plus the loss of thousands of jobs.
“The plan is having enormous impacts on the livelihoods of farmers and industry in our region with very little economic support packages that other regions such as the Latrobe Valley receive,” he said.
Speaking about the proposed federal buy back of water, Cr Dobson said the cost of buying the extra 750 Gl of environmental water was close to $6 billion.
“However the infrastructure required to efficiently distribute that quantity of water has not been developed, resulting in that quantity of water remaining in storage, or simply sent out to sea to relieve storage capacity.”
Cr Dobson said the negative effects of this process within the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District include: undermining the infrastructure upgrades to the irrigation district, threats to the viability of irrigation regions and the role of the region as a major Australian food producer, an artificial inflating of the price of permanent water, and the drain on the national economy of the expenditure of $6 billion to purchase the entitlements.
Cr Spinks said she was neither speaking for nor against the notice of motion because “the conversation was more nuanced than just for or against”.
She said she had researched the plan and while she had read a large volume of material about the social and economic impacts of the plan, water use and buybacks, she had difficulty finding material prioritising the environmental impacts.
Cr Sali thanked Ms Plibersek for giving up time to meet with the Shepparton delegation.
“She gave us at least 20 minutes, which was really good on a really busy schedule,” he said.
“So that means that she acknowledges how important the matter is, and how important Greater Shepparton's role and more broadly, the GMID irrigation catchment area, how important it is.
“Obviously, you don't go there expecting to get an outcome on that day.
“But clearly it's another opportunity to reinforce our position and that's what we constantly, continually have to do.”
Campaspe Shire Council has submitted to the Productivity Commission’s five-yearly implementation review, arguing that environmental outcomes should not compromise the long-term viability, economic growth and wellbeing of Campaspe towns.
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