Labor is in talks with water minister and is hoping to reach a compromise on changes

A crucial vote to disallow changes to the Murray Darling Basin plan, which could trigger New South Wales and Victoria to walk away from the plan, has been been delayed until Wednesday afternoon.

The Senate had been due to vote on Wednesday morning on whether to disallow a cut to the target for recovery of environmental water in the northern basin of the river system by 70 GL or 18%. Water recovery is usually achieved either by the government buying back water rights or by funding efficiency measures.

States threaten to quit Murray-Darling Basin plan over water recovery target Read more

Labor’s shadow water spokesman, Tony Burke, has been locked in talks with the federal water minister, David Littleproud, on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning and is hoping to reach a compromise on both this change to the plan and two others which affect the southern Basin and predominantly South Australia.

The NXT senators have said they will vote with the Greens for disallowance. This means the vote hinges on Labor.

The 70 GL reduction in the environmental water recovery target was recommended by the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) following a public inquiry and is supported by major irrigators in northern NSW and Queensland as it would leave more water for agriculture.

But it has been strongly opposed by farmers downstream from Bourke, as well as environmentalists and scientists, who say the river’s health is at stake.



On Tuesday, the NSW and Victorian governments warned they would pull out of the entire Murray Darling Basin plan, in force for five years, if the cuts to the recovery target were not made.

The NSW shadow water minister, Chris Minns, branded the action “reckless and dangerous” given the allegations of water theft and corrupt conduct in the administration of water in NSW.

NSW minister altered Barwon-Darling water-sharing plan to favour irrigators Read more

NSW’s record on water policy was again under question on Wednesday morning with the release of the first ever progress report from the MDBA on the development of water resource plans, which are the valley-by-valley plans to implement the overall plan for the Murray-Darling. They are all due to be completed by mid-2019.

Of the 20 plans which NSW must prepare, none has been completed, and the MDBA judged most were only 30% complete.

“The MDBA has concerns that, while substantial progress is being made in the development of plans, not all NSW plans will meet planning timeframes. This is in part due to the large number of plans to be completed and the limited timeframe,” the MDBA said.

So far, only one water-sharing plan – for the Warrego, Paroo and Nebine catchment – is completed and accredited. Three more are at the assessment and accreditation phase.



Meanwhile, the Australia Institute has warned that the amendment now before the Senate includes a provision for states to request a reallocation between valleys of extraction limit, without any supporting science or socioeconomic analysis.



“This amendment would allow the states and the MDBA to change water extraction limits between valleys without reference to the communities or the health of the river,” said Rod Campbell, the director of research at the institute.

“While there has been much publicity of the reduced water recovery in the northern Basin, there has been no public discussion of this provision, on which the MDBA did not consult.