The NSW Irrigators Council (NSWIC) says more time is necessary and an opportunity to get the Murray Darling Basin Plan right as it has become clear the targets to return to the water will not be met by the 2024 deadline. 

The federal water minister Tanya Plibersek has 335 days to find 750 gigalitres of water, and she conceded a deadline extension would be necessary. 

It’s a $13 billion target with a deadline set way back in 2012. 

There are other options to deliver the remainder of the Basin Plan without one more drop coming from food and fiber production,” said NSWIC Acting CEO Christine Freak. 

“Additional time is an opportunity to do it right, working together with Basin communities to support the range of positive initiatives put forward through the recent Federal Government public consultation. "

So far, the vast bulk of water returned under the plan has come from purchasing water licenses from irrigators.   



Christine Freak. Image: NSWIC 

“Projects are simply not substitutable by just adding more water. 

“Getting the environmental projects right must be the priority, but that will require adaptive management to do things differently,” Freak explained. 

“ Significant progress has been made with Sustainable Diversion Limits (SDLs), the Basin Plan centerpiece, now in place, following over 2100 gigalitres of water being redirected back to the environment. 

“The remaining challenges cannot overshadow this progress.” 

#beyondbuybacks - NSWIC Hopes 

The NSWIC’s submission to the Australian Government public consultation on innovative ideas to deliver the Murray–Darling Basin Plan focuses on their other proposed options other than buybacks. 

Its submission says that “Proposed water recovery is a substantial proportion of the remaining water available to grow food and fiber,” “Water recovery from farmers costs jobs in Basin communities,” and “Farmers cannot afford to pay market allocation prices this high, this often.” 

Their submission makes several detailed proposals, most of which it says cannot be implemented without legislative change. 

The same applies to the changing of the basin deadline - this, too, will need to go through parliament as a new law.