Thursday, 29 August 2024

Water policy

Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (17:50): (1103) My adjournment is for the Minister for Water regarding the federal Labor government’s move to purchase irrigation water entitlements in Northern Victoria. History shows that water buybacks have a devastating impact on regional communities, the communities that I represent. Last Friday I attended the Goulburn–Murray Irrigation District Water Leadership forum in Bendigo with over 100 leaders, including parliamentarians, irrigators, agriculturalists and food manufacturers. The consensus from the room was clear: no-one supported Tanya Plibersek’s water buybacks. Yet the federal government is pressing ahead and ignoring the concerns raised. The Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority has said that they already struggle to use the environmental water they have and more water is not going to help the system.

If you live in the city and think this issue does not concern you, well, it does. Commonwealth intervention causes prices to skyrocket, raising the water prices for everyone and flowing through to higher production costs and higher food prices. The Commonwealth’s scattergun approach also causes a Swiss cheese effect. By permitting water buybacks across the region, some channels will be forced to close down and large numbers of farms will be dried off. For those who remain, the additional burden of water fees and service delivery charges can make it unsustainable. Once water is sold it is out of the system forever, and there will be less water available every year to produce food. Less water means less food production. Less food production means less jobs. Less jobs mean regional communities will suffer.

Victoria’s population is rapidly growing. The aim should be to produce more food, not less. There is nothing good about water buybacks. The Commonwealth is taking the high-sugar, fast-food option. It may provide a short-term sugar fix but long term it is bad for your health. Jason Limbrick, CEO of Australian Consolidated Milk, spoke about the impact of water buybacks on Victoria’s dairy industry. Twenty per cent of Australia’s milk production comes from Northern Victoria. Eighty-five per cent of milk produced in the basin comes from Northern Victoria, and we also supply milk to northern states. The dairy industry creates about 13,000 jobs in Northern Victoria alone. Twenty years ago Northern Victoria produced 2.7 billion litres of raw milk. Now, because of reduced water availability and higher water prices, we produce half that amount – about 1.4 billion litres.

The Commonwealth government talks about structural adjustment, and the Victorian government refers to sensible transition support. Well, there is nothing sensible about $300 million in compensation across the basin when production losses from 70 gigalitres of water permanently lost to Northern Victoria will be in the billions. There are healthier choices that would be much better long term, like saving water by improving water delivery infrastructure. I thank the Minister for Water for standing firm against these water buybacks, and I seek the minister’s support to stop them.