Water Minister's Controversial Push for Murray-Darling Basin Plan Endorsed by Productivity Commission

Water Minister Tanya Plibersek is on a collision course with farmers after a major report by the Productivity Commission endorsed her controversial push to revitalise the beleaguered $13 billion Murray-Darling Basin Plan , which is the target of a new campaign by the national agricultural lobby.

The basin plan was agreed between the federal, NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and ACT governments in 2012 to restore river health by recovering water principally from farmers, who had been allocated unsustainable volumes of water for irrigation. Plibersek is pursuing parliamentary reform to complete the plan with her Restoring Our Rivers Bill, which would extend the deadline of the basin plan to January 2027 and overturn the current blocks on voluntary water buybacks from farmers imposed under the former Coalition government.

Ahead of her bill passing parliament Plibersek opened a government tender process for irrigators to voluntarily sell their personal water entitlements, seeking to return 45 gigalitres to river flow to boost the health of the river, and received more than double the volume she was seeking.

Water Minister Murray-Darling Basin Plan Productivity Commission Farmers Environmental Reform River System Cost Overruns Water Shortfall Environmental Damage

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