VFF Water Council Chair Andrew Leahy said the shortfall in Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism (SDLAM) projects should not become an excuse for another round of water purchases.
“These were important environmental projects designed to achieve outcomes that could only practically be delivered with the help of infrastructure.”
“Getting water onto floodplains by simply running rivers higher for prolonged periods can have unacceptable impacts on riverside communities, farms and infrastructure.”
“Projects such as Lindsay and Wallpolla recognise that infrastructure is essential to getting environmental water where it is needed, when it is needed, without unnecessarily impacting surrounding communities.”
“Unfortunately, prescriptive legislation and deadlines meant some projects were withdrawn because they could not be completed by the end of 2026.”
“The answer cannot simply be to replace those projects with more water purchases,” Mr Leahy said.
Mr Leahy said the Commonwealth needed to stop suggesting further water purchases were in the interests of rural communities.
“Taking water out of productive agriculture reduces production, impacts the businesses and jobs that depend on irrigation and ultimately reduces our capacity to produce affordable food.”
“If the Commonwealth is genuinely concerned about rural communities, it should invest in infrastructure and make better use of the environmental water already available.”
“The Basin Plan needs to be about environmental outcomes, not simply counting gigalitres.”
“We need to stop being seduced by ivory-tower thinking from scientists and bureaucrats in capital cities who seem to believe that more water automatically means better environmental outcomes.”
Mr Leahy said constraints remained an extremely sensitive issue for Victorian farmers.
“The VFF does not support flooding private land to deliver environmental water. That position has not changed.”
“Some constraints projects considered in Victoria have focused on increasing flows within the river channel without flooding private property, which is consistent with the VFF’s position.”
“The Victorian Government should halt further work on these projects until the Commonwealth gives a clear assurance that the 265 Gl SDLAM shortfall will not be addressed through more water buybacks,” Mr Leahy said.
In an interview broadcast on October 1, Mr Watt refused to rule out further buybacks to recover more water for the shortfall.
He said it was likely that the shortfall would be about 265 Gl, which he described as a significant figure and the government would have to decide what to do about the shortfall.
