The Federal Government has acquired a further 28 gigalitres of water in the Condamine-Balonne river system as part of its Northern Basin recovery target.
Announced on Tuesday, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Barnaby Joyce said the acquisition, at a cost of $78.89 million, represented 70 per cent of the remaining local water recovery task for Condamine Balonne under the 320 GL Northern basin recovery target, set by the Murray -Darling Basin Authority (MDBA).
“This acquisition was a unique opportunity to secure a significant volume of water in a catchment of particular strategic importance to achieving the triple-bottom line outcomes of the Basin Plan,” Minister Joyce said.
“But I know there are communities where the prospect of any further water recovery will be met with concern,” Minister Joyce said.
Balonne Shire Council said it was blindsided by the buyback.
“Council’s understanding was that the Federal Government would seek to recover water through other means due to the devastating social and economic impacts of buybacks felt by our communities,’’ a council statement said.
“We call on our political representatives to support the 320GL limit as recommended by the Murray Darling Basin Authority to provide some certainty for our residents.”
Federal Member for Maranoa David Littleproud said whilst a further 11.4GL was yet to be recovered, the Lower Balonne buyback target was effectively complete due to the Healthy Headwaters infrastructure programs and smaller buybacks upstream.
The water, predominantly overland flow, was purchased by the Commonwealth from Eastern Australia Agriculture from its Southern Queensland properties Kia Ora and Clyde.
In its submission to the Murray Darling Basin Plan Review the LGAQ recognised the importance of the buybacks and the plan but said the lack of transition planning and support was damaging regional communities.
“The existing approach to achieving environmental outcomes, primarily through the water buyback scheme, has largely failed to adequately anticipate, monitor and manage impacts on local communities,” the submission said.
Arron Hieatt, LGAQ senior advisor for water services and infrastructure said working with key policy makers in state and federal government was a key priority for the LGAQ to assist communities who have been left to transition in an abbreviated time frame with little support.
“The LGAQ has become involved in the discussion because policies that directly impact regional communities affect the councils that support them,” Mr Hieatt said.
“What has been clear about the water buyback scheme and implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is that there was not enough consideration about the impact to our communities.
“We look forward to working with our partners in the state and federal governments to ensure there is adequate support for communities like Dirranbandi and St George to adjust to the new water arrangements.
Anthony Lynham, Minister for Natural Resources and Mines, the Murray Darling Basin Authority and the Queensland Farmers Federation have called for an independent public inquiry into the basin plan following allegations of water misappropriation and irregularities in the state-based regulations governing water use in the Northern basin.
Whilst Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has asked the MDBA to conduct the review, Murray Darling Association national president David Thurley has expressed concern the MDBA wouldn’t be sufficiently empowered to conduct a review, saying the MDA favoured an independent public inquiry.
“The Murray-Darling Basin Authority has a complex role, and one that the community must have confidence in for the Basin Plan to succeed,” he said.
“That role includes responsibility for Basin-wide water resource planning.”
“The Murray-Darling Basin Authority was not implicated in the current issues raised by Four Corners, with allegations raised in the report all issues for which the NSW Government has responsibility. However, it will be essential that any inquiry is able to independently distinguish and report on these responsibilities. For this reason, we feel that to call on the MDBA to conduct the enquiry would be unfair to the authority.”