Thursday, 2 May 2019

Murray-Darling Basin

In reply to Mr BOURMAN (Eastern Victoria) (30 April 2019)

Ms TIERNEY (Western Victoria—Minister for Training and Skills, Minister for Higher Education):

Victoria remains committed to working with the Commonwealth Government, other Basin jurisdictions and the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to deliver the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in a way that balances social, economic and environmental outcomes, as agreed.

The Basin Plan will help us prepare for a drier future. It is also helping us to modernise irrigation infrastructure so farmers can do more with less water. It will help the environment by building infrastructure to allow iconic wetlands to be watered even in dry periods, to create a refuge for plants and animals.

This government understands the negative socio-economic impacts of water recovery under the Basin Plan that are already being felt by Victorian communities. That’s why we sought and achieved agreement with other Basin States and the Commonwealth that there will be no more water recovery unless that has positive or neutral socio-economic impacts.

In terms of water allocations in Victoria, allocations are determined based on the water available in dams, the expected inflows over the period and the need to meet commitments. Victoria’s allocation policy has focussed on providing Victorian water users with an allocation every year—an approach that other states will need to look at with the reduction in water availability due to climate change.

Typically allocations start low and increase over the year. GMW as Resource Manager, assesses inflows monthly and makes further allocation available depending on increased availability. For example, seasonal allocation in the Murray for high reliability water shares started at 41 per cent and reached 100 per cent before the end of the season.

More information about the current outlook, allocations and processes can be found at the Northern Victoria Resource Manager website www.nvrm.net.au.