Security of water focus of inquiry

The Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport was on the road investigating water compliance issues, following allegations of illegal water extraction upstream.

Pastoralists’ Association of the West Darling president Lachlan Gall, Langawirra Station, Broken Hill, who addressed the inquiry, said water was critical for pastoralists’ survival.   

“Changes to the Barwon-Darling Water Sharing Plan were introduced in 2012, and there has been a significant negative impact downstream, right through to Wentworth,NSW,” he said.

“The Darling River below Bourke, and all those that depend on it, including the environment, has been sacrificed for the benefit and interests of those further upstream. There should be a set of rules that mandate fair and equitable sharing of water between all stakeholders, and these rules must be adhered to and policed appropriately – this is not happening.”

He was joined by fellow PAWD member Terry Smith, Scarsdale Station, Broken Hill, who said there needed to be appropriate penalties for breaches of extraction limits.

“Fines do not work if the fine for illegal pumping is $100,000 but you can grow $2 million worth of crop with the water you pump,” he said.

Mr Gall said another hot topic was the need to install and monitor water meters in the Northern Basin as a matter of priority.

Committee co-chair and Labor WA Senator Glen Sterle said the goal was to find out as much as possible about the issues in the MDB.

“We’re going to do this properly and come back with some rock solid recommendations on how we can improve the lot out there in enforcement and metering and monitoring of water use in the MDB,” he said.

Brewarrina, NSW, remains a focal point of the inquiry where irrigators along the Barwon and Darling rivers in NSW are alleged to have illegally extracted water for cotton and farm production, despite its intended environmental use in the MDBP.

A representative from the Brewarrina Shire Council gave evidence in a closed panel, which has encouraged the Senate committee to head to Brewarrina.

“We want to dig down on how we can best come up with a fantastic report,” Sen Sterle said.

SA Murray Irrigators have welcomed the chance to speak with senators about water issues within the Murray-Darling Basin, but would still like to see a judicial inquiry to alleviate concerns and create certainty.

SAMI chair Caren Martin said a proper judicial approach to allegations such as water theft and other concerns about the rollout of the MDB Plan would allow those involved to have confidence in the system.

“It really is the job of the judiciary to interpret the law and apply that,” she said.

“It will set a precedent for how the basin plan will play out across the country and set a precedent in water reform that is not reliant on political decisions.”

Ms Martin said it was important that there was integrity in the system.

She said the MDBP had been in place for five years, but was based on several decades of work and negotiation.

“We’ve created a water market and businesses have built themselves on that and used it it to mitigate risks,” she said.

“We need that to be bedded down, so the risks become less and less.

“We’ve gone in good faith and come up with a system that works for everybody and we need to continue on that path.”

Ms Martin said the fact the inquiry was in Adelaide was a positive and a chance to present some of the concerns.

“Two of the senators had left by the time we got there and some things had happened that morning that put them in a different frame of mind,” she said.

“But we were able to highlight our concerns across the reforms.”

Ms Martin said a major concern was the need for guidelines, data and parameters as water ministers began to put together water resource plans for 2019, which are being done at state and catchment levels.

She said these needed to be in place to avoid these plans becoming politicised.