Local community deserve a say on water allocation buybacks
The Federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water is planning closed consultation sessions to discuss water buybacks as part of the Strategic Water Purchasing Framework to recover water and bridge the gap on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan for Sustainable Diversion Limits.
They have scheduled a meeting in St George on Monday 13 March 2023, with no plans for direct community consultation on a topic that may pose broad scale effects to the local community.
Balonne Shire Council Mayor Samantha O’Toole said it’s beyond outrageous to have a consultation on water allocation buybacks without community involvement.
“Our community deserves to have their voices heard in relation to these water allocation buybacks and I call on the federal government to let them be heard”, Mayor O’Toole said.
“Our community quite literally works to provide food and fibre to feed and clothe our nation and water allocation buybacks will do more than just cause devastation to our local community.
“Water allocation buybacks will mean less food and fibre supply to our nation and thus more pressure on the cost of living for those in our capital cities and throughout the nation.
“We need to be focussing on working with the local community, not devastating local communities and increasing cost of living pressures across the board.
“Our local agricultural sector is making great progress with developing water efficiency measures, which is a much more productive way of reducing water consumption than to have our Federal Government devastate local agricultural jobs that literally feed and clothe our nation.
“If the federal government focussed investment on working with local farmers to help with water efficiency measures, we could arrive at the same water reductions whilst we continue producing food and fibre for our nation.
“Water allocation buybacks have had an enormous impact on the sustainability and viability of some of our communities in the past.
“The last time water allocation buybacks happened one local town in our Shire lost 12 families and to a town of around 600 people that is beyond devastating in terms of flow-on impacts.
“Dirranbandi lost an estimated 27% of its irrigation area and more than 15% of agriculture and non-agriculture private sector jobs when water allocation buybacks last occurred.
"School enrolments dropped by 50% in the last five years and businesses operating in the area are under significant stress.
“In St George, jobs in agriculture dropped by more than 15% and non-agriculture private sector jobs were down by more than 20% from the last water allocation buybacks.”