Leasing of water to achieve targets set out in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan will be an option, following an agreement made by the federal government to secure more crossbench support for their Restoring Our Rivers Bill.
Ex-Liberal and now independent Vic Senator David Van is the latest crossbench member to back government changes to MDB Plan laws.
His support hinges on two changes agreed to by Water Minister Tanya Plibersek.
One includes putting the option of 'lease backs' on the table, an idea floated several weeks ago by Primary Producers SA chair Simon Maddocks.
In a doorstop interview at Parliament House, Canberra, yesterday, Ms Plibersek said she agreed to the changes after Senator Van raised concerns about the social and economic impacts of voluntary water buybacks on river communities.
"The first is to make it very clear that leasing water rather than buying it is an option available to us to achieve the targets in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan," she said.
"I've said all along that voluntary water purchase is not the only tool in the box, that we are looking at.
"On-farm, off-farm efficiency measures, and a range of other options, and with this clarification about leasing, that puts another option on the table."
Length of leasing terms are yet to be decided.
Ms Plibersek will also report annually to Parliament on the way she has considered the social and economic impacts of water purchasing programs.
A third request to retain a purchase cap of 1500 gigalitres of water was denied.
"That would fundamentally change what I'm proposing to do with the Restoring Our Rivers Bill, which is to put more options on the table, not to take options off the table when it comes to achieving the objectives of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan," Ms Plibersek said.
Professor Maddocks was pleased parliamentary figures had seen merit in the lease back idea and that it was put on the table by Senator Van.
While he said the "devil would be in the detail", lease backs should be a useful tool for irrigators considering taking the further step to buybacks.
"The plan to date hasn't delivered what it needed to deliver within the timeframe, so to keep doing the same thing the same way wasn't going to take us forward," Prof Maddocks said.
"We all believe the delivery of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in full is important."
Albeit voluntary, Prof Maddocks said an underlying issue with buybacks operating alone was that someone would be required to ensure that all water wasn't sourced from one region and causing undue pressure on communities.
He said lease backs would test those impacts and potentially be converted to buybacks if no detrimental impacts resulted.
"They're (buybacks) a finite commitment - once the water is sold back into the central bank that's it, it's gone," he said.
"I think lease backs allow the communities involved to have some engagement in the process.
"If someone has a water licence and wants to test their ability to transition their business into something else and not use as much water, by allowing them to lease those rights it supports the government building the environmental contribution they're looking for and it allows a business to test whether they can cope adequately without drawing upon that resource."
In another week full of developments, the passage of changes to Basin Plan laws is becoming more likely, with the Greens and Senator David Pocock also pledging their support.
Other amendments made this week to acknowledge the connection, history and water needs of First Nations people in the Plan and increase funding to the Aboriginal Water Entitlement Program to $100 million.
An independent audit of water allocated to the environment will also be conducted, and delivering 450GL of water each year to the environment will be legislated.
