Murray-Darling Basin Plan dispute sees Wakool, Deniliquin farmers at loggerheads with Government

Updated

Irrigators in the southern Riverina have locked the gate on several government agencies after a complete breakdown in negotiations over heightened river flows into their creeks.

The environmental flows, proposed under the $13 billion Murray-Darling Basin Plan, were aimed at breathing new life into the Murray-Darling Basin river systems like billabongs, forests and wetlands, and to save native fish and birdlife.

While farmers said they were not opposed to the water flows, they claimed the current proposals would result in extensive flooding on their properties.

Third generation, Deniliquin district farmer, Bill Dudley, told the ABC his property would be cut in four if the creeks were flooded to increase environmental flows.

"It will end up that I'll have to access certain paddocks by boat," he said.

Another Deniliquin farmer, Louise Burge, who had been on the land for the past 35 years with her husband Andrew, said if the environmental flows were not well planned her property could face major flooding.

"We will need infrastructure to get us from one side of the farm to the other," she said.

Mrs Burge estimated some of their farm crossings would have to be replaced with bridges, with the estimated cost for replacing one causeway at $500,000.

It's been frustrating and disillusioning with way governments make decisions and impose those decisions on communities Deniliquin farmer Louise Burge

Professor Ross Thompson, the director at Institute for Applied Ecology at the University of Canberra, said water is vital for the area.

"Look, it's one of those districts that's always relied upon extensive flooding," he said.

"It has amazing diversity of some iconic species at its foundation, but based on regular flooding events in various sizes."

The Burges do a mix of dry-land farming, including 5,000 merinos and 40 hectares of rice under irrigation.

She has described the almost four years of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan as "a disaster, which has been costly to our business".

"It's been frustrating and disillusioning with way governments make decisions and impose those decisions on communities," Mrs Burge told the ABC.

Goals for river project are political: farmer

West of Deniliquin at Wakool, Murray Valley Private Diverters chairman and farmer John Lolicato said the goals that have been set for the Basin Plan's environmental flows are "political".

"The fact is to achieve those political goals that that they've set, water has to come from the storages all the way through areas like the Edward-Wakool," he said.

"To get water down to the bottom end you need large quantities of water.

"It's just not achievable without actually flooding us out."

Mr Lolicato represents up to 300 farmers who are concerned about their properties being inundated due to the "man made" flows.

He told the ABC negotiations with the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) have been "appalling, despite something like 52 meetings with the MDBA".

"How long are we going to be under water? What is the frequency of it? Is it going to be every 12 months? Is it going to be every two years. None of those questions have been answered, " he said.

The NSW Government has now taken over negotiations from the MDBA and how $200 million will be spent on helping to manage the environmental flows.

"There's no doubt the communities down there have been hurting and the relationship between some of those farmers and the MDBA was fractured," Lands and Water Minister Niall Blair said.

"We've appointed a local, Michael Hughes, who's a local farmer and has a long history in the water space to be the chair of our consultation committee down there."

Farmer not letting state government officials onto their land

An audit was underway of crossings and other infrastructure on floodplains that may be affected by the environmental flows, but farmers in the Wakool district are now not letting State Government officials onto their land.

"My landholders are completely with me," Mr Lolicato said.

"They're saying we're sick of the talk, lock the gate, until we get some of these answers, solutions put in front of us."

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority's constraints manager Brent Williams told the ABC it would take some time to find a solution to the environmental flow concern.

"The strategy always contemplated a 10-year timeframe for resolving some of these issues and implementing them, so to expect a resolution at this stage is a bit premature," he said.

"You need to appreciate that there are many voices in this conversation up and down the river."

Landholders, like Mrs Burge, were not convinced.

"We want solutions and we don't want to be strung out for the next eight years, so I'm very wary."

See more on this story on Australia Wide on March 12.

Topics: sustainable-and-alternative-farming, rural, irrigation, water-management, environment, wakool-2710, nsw, australia

First posted