Interview with Fiona Broom, ABC Victorian Country Hour

FIONA BROOM, HOST: The Murray–Darling Basin Authority has this morning released its draft Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism determination for public input. This Mechanism was agreed in 2012 as part of the Murray–Darling Basin Plan, to reduce the amount of consumptive water by implementing projects across the Basin states. Originally this Mechanism aimed to remove 650 gigalitres from the consumptive pool of water, but in this latest draft report, the Authority says 17 of 39 of the water saving projects won't be done by the end of year deadline.

At the moment, there is a 265 gigalitre per year shortfall which, with adjustments, will end up being a 118 gigalitre shortfall per year. Joining me to tell you more is the Federal Minister for the Environment and Water, Murray Watt. Good afternoon, Minister.

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: G’day Fiona. Good to be with you. FIONA BROOM: In July your Government said you were 85 percent of the way towards reaching the 450 gigalitre target for the environment.

How close are you now? MURRAY WATT: Yeah, so that's obviously a separate target the Sustainable Diversion Mechanism that the MDBA has reported on today. But in terms of the 450 gigalitre water recovery target, we expect to be at the 400 gigalitre mark by the end of this calendar year, and we certainly expect to have reached 450 by the end of next year which is the deadline set by the legislation.

FIONA BROOM: This report estimates with these proposed adjustments that there will be a 118 gigalitre shortfall per year. Will the Government look to fill those shortfalls with buybacks? MURRAY WATT: That's obviously the decision we now will need to make, Fiona.

I know there's lots of figures flying around in this, but in terms of the particular reporting from the Murray–Darling Basin Authority today, they’re focusing on that Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism. And just so your listeners know the background to that - that's one of the Basin Plan mechanisms that was designed by the former Federal Coalition Government back in 2017 to keep more water available for communities in irrigation, and to limit the need for further voluntary water buybacks.

But that was always done in exchange for the Basin states delivering projects that achieved similar environmental outcomes as water buybacks would deliver. But of course, what we've now seen today is that it's likely that by the deadline at the end of this year, the shortfall in water recovery from these measures will be 265 gigalitres. That's a significant shortfall.

We're obviously disappointed that that's occurred, especially when we passed legislation in our first term giving the states more time to deliver those projects than what they initially had had. And what we now will need to do, once this process is finalised, is decide what we do about that shortfall. I mean, the whole point of the Murray–Darling Basin Plan and the voluntary water buybacks, the other water infrastructure investments, these kind of investments under the SDLAM process, are all about making sure that the health of the Murray–Darling system remains in place so that we can have sustainable industries, sustainable communities for a long time to come.

And if we fail to meet the targets that are set under the Basin Plan, it's not just a sort of a mathematical exercise, it actually says that we're not doing what's needed to preserve the health of the Basin system long-term. So, we haven't made any decisions at this point in time about what we do about the shortfall, but we can’t ignore it. And there’s a range of options available to us and we'll need to work through those in parallel with the states and territories and communities in the months ahead.

FIONA BROOM: Before any decisions are made on making up this shortfall, if it's buybacks or if it's new Sustainable Diversion Limit projects, will socio-economic analyses be undertaken? MURRAY WATT: We always take those sort of factors into account, Fiona. But as I say, we do have a legislated obligation to deliver on some of these targets because they are what science has told us is essential to preserve the environmental health of the Basin going forward.

You know, I'm obviously aware that there's a lot of controversy within the Basin around buybacks in particular. But I keep making the point, as I did when I was the Agriculture Minister, that we won't have long-term sustainable industries and communities in the Basin if we don't have a sustainable river system. So we've got to make some of these decisions.

And I guess one of the things that comes out of these figures today is that, I'm aware that there's a lot of opposition to buybacks in the Basin, and people often put forward alternatives to get there. But what we've seen here is that one of the mechanisms brought in by the Federal Coalition back in 2017 has failed, and has not delivered the kind of water recovery that was promised, even though we've extended the time available.

So we're not going to do what the former Government did and put our head in the sand and ignore the fact that the climate is changing in the Murray–Darling Basin, that it is getting drier overall. And we don't want to leave those communities in the lurch long-term by continuing to deny the fact that we need to restore the health of the Basin system. FIONA BROOM: Murray Watt, Minister for Environment and Water, is on the Country Hour with you this afternoon.

Senator, a text on the text line asking how the water will actually fit down the river? ‘Because it won't be able to do that without causing more major damage to the riverbank erosion’, is what this text says. MURRAY WATT: I think probably what your listener is referring to there is the need for what are known as constraints measures, so investing in projects that remove some of the constraints to water flow within the river system.

And we have invested in those sort of measures and, in fact, some of the ones that have now not been delivered on time involve exactly that. And I guess what this shows is that simply continuing to invest in those things alone is not going to deliver the amount of water that's needed for the Murray–Darling system long-term. I'd also make the point, having just spent time in the Riverland in South Australia earlier this week, that the extra water flows that are coming through the river system are what has helped restore some of the rivers closer towards the mouth of the Murray.

The Coorong in South Australia was in great, great jeopardy several years ago because of the lack of water flows, it's now in better health - it's not perfect, still a lot more to be done. But we do need to keep investing in these things and the sooner we can see them delivered, the better. FIONA BROOM: This draft report shows that the Victorian Goulburn system's proposed adjustment or shortfall under this mechanism will be about 55 gigalitres a year.

What will this mean for the region and for the farmers that rely on that water? MURRAY WATT: Yeah, well again, if you're thinking about the long-term future of those districts and those farms, we need to make sure that the river system is healthy and that the right amount of water is being recovered, whether that be through voluntary buybacks, through investments like this, through the water infrastructure investments that were being made.

As I say, we haven't made any decisions at this point in time about what we do to deal with this shortfall. In fact, the statement that the Authority has made today is a draft statement, they'll finalise that by the end of this year. And we will make decisions after that point in time.

Can I just mention - the other thing I guess relating to buybacks is that our Government has also committed $300 million in structural adjustment funding. Because even though the agriculture sector has continued to grow in the Basin over the last few years with these measures in place, we do recognise that voluntary buybacks can have some impacts on some communities and some industries.

And that's what that $300 million in funding is for. Earlier this week, I was in South Australia announcing funding to upgrade facilities in the citrus industry for extra packing, further conversion of wine growing towards olive production. So they're the kind of things that we are investing in to make sure that these communities continue to have jobs, continue to produce as the climate changes, as water availability changes.

FIONA BROOM: Minister, around 80 workers in the Riverina lost their jobs at SunRice. Will there be any assistance for those workers who lost their positions? MURRAY WATT: You may have seen that we have announced already that we have committed to funding for SunRice for a proposal they've got at Leeton to expand and upgrade a rice cake processing plant.

We're still in negotiation with SunRice about the details of that agreement. But as I say, we have already invested over $100 million in New South Wales in Basin communities to create new jobs, to create new industries, to expand existing industries to help with these changes. We do believe that we need to take action to preserve the health of the Murray–Darling Basin system for the long term, but we're also standing with those communities as these changes happen with real funding that is helping to create new jobs in those communities as well.

FIONA BROOM: Murray Watt, Minister for the Environment and Water, many thanks for joining us on the Country Hour today. MURRAY WATT: No worries, Fiona. Thanks We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture.

We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.