Federal government concedes Murray Darling Basin plan can’t be completed on time
The government says more time is needed to meet a key deadline in the $13 billion Murray Darling Basin plan. It sets out how water in the nation's largest river network should be shared between farmers, industry and the environment. The water minister has today conceded the plan can't be delivered on time.
Transcript
00:00 The Murray-Darling Basin Plan was actually legislated more than a decade ago now, and
00:06 since that time, more than 2,100 gigalitres of water that had been used by industry, by
00:11 farming, has been returned to the rivers and allowed to stay in the system to support the
00:17 environment.
00:18 But there's still a significant shortfall that was to be returned to the environment
00:22 by the middle of next year.
00:25 And today we've heard from the Federal Water Minister, Tanya Plibersek, who's received
00:29 advice from the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to say that it is in fact going to be hundreds
00:34 of gigalitres short when that June 24 deadline comes around next year.
00:39 So there's still plenty of work to go.
00:41 What's the Minister said about that today?
00:44 Now one of the reasons for the shortfall is in fact because the states, Murray-Darling
00:48 Basin states, which have oversight for water savings projects, haven't made as much progress
00:55 as they should have by now.
00:58 Now for people who have been following the progress of the Murray-Darling Basin plan,
01:02 this won't come as a surprise at all.
01:05 Since 2019, the Productivity Commission has been warning about these projects going off
01:10 the rails in terms of meeting their deadline.
01:12 We heard from the CEO of the Basin Authority before the National Press Club last year saying
01:17 that more than half the water was unlikely to be recovered towards this 605 gigalitre
01:23 target that is essentially the responsibility of the basin states with their water recovery
01:28 projects.
01:29 Things like finding water in the Menindee Lakes or resealing the Menindee Lakes, which
01:35 was one project that was originally expected to recover more than 100 gigalitres of water,
01:40 although it's more likely to be significantly less.
01:43 In fact, some suggestions say that project is now looking at around 40 gigalitres of
01:49 water if it even goes ahead.
01:52 Now the Minister Tania Plibersek has been speaking with the media in Sydney this morning
01:58 and here's what she had to say about potentially extending the deadlines for these state projects.
02:06 We're certainly not talking about five or ten years.
02:09 I don't want to get into negotiating through the media with states and territories.
02:14 This is something that has to be done cooperatively with the states and territories if at all
02:19 possible.
02:20 What I won't do is give an open-ended opportunity to the states and territories to delay and
02:30 delay.
02:31 Federal Water Minister Tania Plibersek there and you can stand by Ros for some pretty interesting
02:36 responses to come from basin state ministers.
02:38 [BLANK_AUDIO]