The Victorian Labor Government has set up a committee that comprises representatives from various government departments, as well as individuals from agriculture, local government, environment and regional development.
It is under the direction Victorian Water Minister Harriet Shing.
The Murray Regional Strategy Group says a similar group in the NSW Southern Basin could also play a role in developing improved water policy.
Group chair Geoff Moar said the Victorian Government had identified issues with the Murray-Darling Basin Plan which needed to be addressed, including unwanted water buybacks.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has strongly expressed her opposition to buybacks.
“There is growing frustration in rural communities at the Federal Government’s insistence on buybacks, despite their proven damage to food production and rural communities,” he said.
“Our farmers want to continue growing food and feeding our nation, but livelihoods are unnecessarily being threatened because the government, and especially Water Minister Tanya Plibersek, appear to listen to activists rather than farming and community groups.
“People with limited practical knowledge of our river systems, and no ‘skin in the game’ are forcing their ideologies onto the government and dictating the agenda.
“A group in NSW, similar to the one established in Victoria, but limited to the Southern Basin which is the most impacted region for water buybacks, would be a positive way to provide Ms Plibersek and her government with better ways to manage our precious water resources,” Mr Moar said.
He said it was becoming increasingly obvious that a fresh approach was needed to the basin plan, rather than the ‘just add water’ philosophy which has dictated environmental policy to this point.
“Last week, the CEO of Victoria’s Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority stated categorically that more environmental water is not required in the Goulburn River,” Mr Moar said.
”We believe the same applies in other basin rivers, but to this point government agencies have not been prepared to admit it.
“In the Goulburn, we have a situation where the authority responsible for improving and protecting the system’s natural resources is saying they don’t need more environmental water and ‘struggle to use what we already have’.
“If we cannot use existing massive quantities of stored environmental water without damaging the system instead of protecting it, then quite obviously the basin plan needs adjustments.”
He also supported comments from Ms Shing, who says it is not too late to pursue alternatives to water buybacks, and has pointed out that Ms Plibersek has herself stated they are “just one tool in the tool kit”.
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