With fewer than 500 days until the Murray-Darling Basin plan's legislated deadline, the New South Wales Coalition government is campaigning for more time and funding to deliver what was promised.
The $13 billion basin plan's deadline for water recovery is June next year but hundreds of gigalitres of water are yet to be recovered for the environment, and the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) has warned the plan won't be completed on time.
In a statement released today, New South Wales Water Minister Kevin Anderson said he will use a meeting of water ministers on Friday to call for an extension on his state's obligations, and a commitment that Commonwealth water buybacks won't be used to meet a 450 gigalitres of environmental water savings target.
"As the New South Wales Water Minister, my priority is healthy rivers, healthy farms and healthy communities; not one or the other," Mr Anderson said.
The announcement follows threats by the former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro that New South Wales would walk away from the plan, and a failed attempt by the former state water minister, Melinda Pavey, and then-Victorian water minister Lisa Neville to have the plan's deadline extended.
Water recovery from state projects falls short
Despite more than 2,100 gigalitres of water being returned to the environment since the Murray-Darling Basin plan was legislated in 2012, almost 50 gigalitres of water is yet to be recovered toward the "Bridging the Gap" target.
The basin authority has also warned of a major shortfall from state-run projects intended to recover the equivalent of 605 gigalitres for the environment.
Meanwhile, the MDBA anticipates less than half of this water may be recovered on time and predicts it could take up to a decade beyond the June 2024 deadline for all project works to be completed.
These projects — known as Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism (SDLAM) projects — must undergo an assessment by the MDBA to determine whether they are delivering the environmental outcomes promised.
If a project is not complete by June 2024, or delivering less water than promised, the Commonwealth would be forced to acquire the water.
But issuing his state's position statement a week before New South Wales enters caretaker mode, ahead of an election next month, Mr Anderson said he would request additional time and funding to get the projects completed, to avoid further water recovery.
"With more time and flexibility, existing and new environmental projects can be delivered that will avoid the need for additional water recovery by the Commonwealth," Mr Anderson said.
In its position statement, New South Wales says more funding is needed for the projects, but Mr Anderson did not specify a figure.
In 2021, the Commonwealth committed an additional $330 million to some of the New South Wales projects, including at the Menindee Lakes.
The largest of the SDLAM projects, the Menindee Lakes project, proposed to shrink the surface area of the lakes and reduce evaporation promising to recover more than 100 gigalitres for the environment.
But the project was met with fierce opposition from the local community, and was abandoned and re-scoped and rebranded to become the "Better Barka" project.
During Senate Estimates last week, it was revealed that the New South Wales government had not made any formal attempt to notify the federal government that the original form of the project was not going ahead.
"The New South Wales government has not brought forward an amendment [to the Commonwealth], they have been out consulting with their communities" the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DEECCW)'s Peta Derham told Estimates.
"The Commonwealth duly awaits," Dr Derham said.
New South Wales had also been running late on a key commitment to submit water resource plans (WRP) to the basin authority.
The WRP sets out how water is shared in various valleys. The state was required to prepare 20 WRP and submitted its final 6 plans to the MDBA earlier this month, years behind other basin states.
NSW says no buybacks to meet 450GL
Declaring his state's position ahead of Friday's council of water ministers, Mr Anderson reiterated New South Wales opposition to using Commonwealth buybacks to meet an environmental water saving target of 450 gigalitres, again by June 2024.
The 450 gigalitres of water for the environment was promised in return for South Australia's support for the plan and was to come from efficiency projects.
So far about 5 gigalitres has been recovered toward that target (a further 21.6 gigalitres are contracted).
In 2018 water ministers, led by New South Wales and Victoria, agreed to a strict criteria by which water could be recovered toward this target to ensure no socio-economic harm to communities.
It is unclear how legally binding the criteria is and before a meeting of the Water Ministers Council last year, South Australia's Susan Close said her state no longer supported the criteria.
But Mr Anderson said he opposed any attempt to remove the socio-economic test on water recovered to meet the 450-gigalitre target.
"Not only does it permanently reduce the amount of water available for regional communities in the long term, it increases the price of water for other users, and reduces agricultural productivity in regional areas," Mr Anderson said.
"New South Wales will strongly argue that any further water recovery must be prioritised through investment in water infrastructure rather than buybacks and will be using the upcoming Ministerial Council meeting to fight for the interests of New South Wales communities."
Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek has previously said she would consider all options to meet the water savings targets. Last year's federal budget set aside a secret sum that could be put toward Commonwealth buybacks.
