The Nationals and the Coalition have introduced a bill to ban Commonwealth water buybacks across the Murray-Darling Basin, one-third of which sits inside the federal electorate of Parkes.
The bill would bar the federal government from buying any more permanent Basin water entitlements that would grow the Commonwealth’s share of the Basin. Temporary water allocation trading would be left unaffected.
“For too long, regional communities in the Murray-Darling Basin such as Warren and Bourke have suffered from the impacts of water buybacks and recovery,” said Federal Member for Parkes Jamie Chaffey.
“When you take water from a community, it withers and it dies. It struggles to maintain its population.”
“What this looks like on the ground is families losing generational farms, schools closing, support industry shutting down, employment ending and people being forced to move out of our regional communities right across Australia.”
Mr Chaffey said fewer water entitlements meant more heartbreak for regional communities.
“Our regions are the heart of this country, and we should be pumping lifeblood into that heart, not draining it,” he said.
Leader of The Nationals Matt Canavan said the bill would halt further buybacks and protect the water that is available for farming, towns, jobs and productive use.
“We need to end water buybacks for the sake of saving our regional communities, after Labor started the buybacks and then committed to reclaiming an additional 450 GL,” said Leader of The Nationals Matt Canavan.
“This issue needs to be fixed immediately, which is why we are introducing the legislation.”
The Coalition has also launched a Water Taskforce. Shadow Minister for Water Michael McCormack will chair the group, with Member for Barker Tony Pasin as deputy chair. Member for O’Connor Rick Wilson, Senator for Tasmania Richard Colbeck, Shadow Assistant Minister for Agriculture Sam Birrell, and Member for Flynn Colin Boyce are also on the taskforce.
The taskforce will travel through Basin and regional communities across Australia to hear from irrigators, growers, and local councils. It will develop new water infrastructure, dam, and water storage proposals to boost supply for agriculture, towns, and industry.
It will also scrutinise Labor’s water recovery program and expose the cost of buybacks to regional economies. The taskforce will report to the Coalition to help shape its water agenda ahead of the next federal election.
Mr Chaffey said Australian farming was critical to all Australians and needed to be backed by ending buybacks, building dams, and investing in water infrastructure.
“We will face a food security crisis unless we grow more food, and that’s only possible with water security,” he said.
“Labor has cut more than $7 billion in dams and water supply funding, and has no plans to increase water or food security.”
“It’s not good enough for the primary producers of the Parkes electorate, and it’s not good enough for the food security of our nation.”
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