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| @michaeldaleyMP, 13 January 2019 |
In March 2012 it was the O’Farrell Liberal-Nationals Coalition Government who received the above Memorandum on the Water Sharing Plan for the Barwon-Darling Unregulated and Alluvial Water Sources which covered both the Barwon-Darling unregulated river water source and the Upper Darling Alluvial groundwater source.
This NSW water
sharing plan was clearly prefaced on creating a market for the sale of water
rights and the needs of commercial irrigators and the mining industry:
2.0 Purpose of the plan (at Page 3)
2.1
Why are water sharing plans being prepared? Expansion of water extraction
across NSW in the 20th century has placed most valleys at or close to the limit
of sustainable water extraction. This has seen increasing competition between
water users (towns, farmers, industries and irrigators) for access to water.
This has also placed pressure on the health and biological diversity of our
rivers and aquifers.
Plans
provide a legal basis for sharing water between the environment and consumptive
purposes. Under the Water Management Act 2000, the sharing of water must
protect the water source and its dependent ecosystems and must protect basic
landholder rights. Sharing or extraction of water under any other right must
not prejudice these rights. Therefore, sharing water to licensed water users is
effectively the next priority for water sharing. Among licensed water users,
priority is given to water utilities and licensed domestic and stock use, ahead
of commercial purposes such as irrigation and other industries.
Plans
also recognise the economic benefits that commercial users such as irrigation
and industry can bring to a region. Upon commencement, access licences held
under the Water Act 1912 (WA 1912) are converted to access licences under the
Water Management Act 2000 and land and water rights are separated. This
facilitates the trade of access licences and can encourage more efficient use
of water resources. It also allows new industries to develop as water can move
to its highest value use.
In
conjunction with the Water Management Act 2000, plans also set rules so that
commercial users can also continue to operate productively. In general,
commercial licences under the Water Management Act 2000 are granted in
perpetuity, providing greater commercial security of water access entitlements.
Plans also define the access rules for commercial users for ten years providing
all users with greater certainty regarding sharing arrangements.
The warning
in the Memorandum was ignored by the O’Farrell. Baird and Berejiklian Coalition Governments and, by the Murray-Darling
Basin Authority when it drained 2,000 gigalitres of water from the Menindee
lakes in 2017.
Obviously
fearing the electorate will remember: a) that when the Abbott Coalition Government
came to power it handed even more power over water resources back to the states & abolished the independent National Water Commission1 and b) then recall the rampant abuse of water resources under then Deputy PM and
Nationals MP for New England as Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Barnaby Joyce as well as multiple allegation of water theft; Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison sought to wrongly blame first Federal Labor and then the drought for the
ecological devastation which is occurring in the NSW section of the Murray-Darling river systems.
ABC News, 14 January 2019:
The State
Government is bracing for another mass fish kill in the Darling River this
week, with soaring temperatures forecast in western NSW.
The mercury is expected
to reach up to 46 degrees Celsius in the town of Menindee, where up to 1 million native species were killed in an
algal bloom over the New Year.
The Bureau of
Meteorology said a heatwave, caused by hot air being blown from Central
Australia, would persist until Saturday and could break temperature records
around Broken Hill.
Primary Industries
Minister Niall Blair said state and local governments would work with the
community to manage the possibility of another ecological disaster.
"Well we know that
we've got high temperatures right across the state and a lot of poor water
quality situations particularly brought on by the extended drought so
unfortunately we are expecting that we may see more fish killed," Mr Blair
said.
The warning comes
as contractors prepare to clear the 40-kilometre stretch of
the Darling River of dead fish before their rotting carcasses compound the
situation.
Federal Agriculture
Minister David Littleproud will convene a meeting of State and Federal
environmental and water stakeholders working under the Murray-Darling Basin
Plan.
Mr Littleproud proposed
using $5 million for a native fish recovery strategy and will seek agreement
for the money to come from Murray-Darling Basin funds.
"The reality is
we're in a serious drought and the only silver bullet is rain," he said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison refuted a report released
by NSW Labor at the weekend claiming the Liberal Government ignored warnings
about low water levels.
"I'm concerned today that some might want to play
politics," he said.
"There were reports done by scientists under Labor's
contribution to that plan back in 2012, the plan has been operating in
accordance with that advice and so we need to just keep on working on the
issue."
Mr Morrison said the fish kill was because of the
drought.
"It's a devastating
ecological event, particularly for those all throughout that region the sheer
visual image of this is terribly upsetting," he said.
However, that is
disputed by many people in Menindee, who argue poor water management has
compounded the mass kill. [my yellow highlighting]
Morrison in blaming everyone but successive Federal (since September 2013) and NSW (since March 2011) Coalition governments forgets that Australian voters can read and, as late as June 2018 the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office as part of the NSW Interagency Working Group for Better Managing Environmental Water offered advice on the Barwon-Darling which both the current Australian Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Drought Preparation and Response & Liberal MP for Maranoa David Littleproud and current NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Minister for Regional Water & Nationals MLC Niall Blair appear to have ignored until it was too late.
Footnote
1. One of the last things the National Water Commission (NWC) did before then Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott abolished it was to inform the Abbott Coalition Government that:
"Ten years on from the
signing of the NWI, water reform in Australia is at a cross roads. Many reform
gains are now taken for granted and the multi-party support that has been a
hallmark of this historic agreement is at risk of breaking down.
Given the substantial
government investments and hard-won progress so far, and the valuable but
challenging gains yet to be realised, it is critical that there is no
backsliding from reform principles.
Strong leadership is
essential to realise the full benefits of water reform and to embed proven NWI
principles into the decision making of all Australian governments."
NWC also wrote to the prime miniser warning of the perils which lay ahead it governments didn't learn from past mistakes.
