SA politicians call for Basin states to 'pull their weight' on water plan
South Australian politicians are demanding that other Murray-Darling Basin states take responsibility for their share of the plan, citing the impact on their communities. A recent report reveals a shortfall of 265 gigalitres due to a failure to deliver state-run water-saving projects.
A group of South Australian politicians are calling for other states to take responsibility for their share of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, citing the impact on their communities. The plan's future and its ability to provide water to 2.4 million people across four states, including more than 1 million people in Adelaide, is under scrutiny.
Shortfall in water-saving projects
A recent report from the Murray-Darling Basin Authority reveals a shortfall of 265 gigalitres due to a failure to deliver state-run water-saving projects. These projects were introduced to avoid further buybacks. With federal water and agriculture minister Murray Watt considering how to address the shortfall, MPs and senators from South Australia have come together in Canberra to demand the plan be delivered in full.
At a press conference, Liberal senator Andrew McLachlan said South Australia had already done its fair share of the work and other states needed to step up.
"It has suffered from the incompetence and greed of New South Wales and Victoria," he said.
"We need that water otherwise our society, our communities will die."
Communities relying on the Murray
Keen fisher Neil Burton, who has lived along the River Murray for decades, expressed shock that other states have not met their targets more than a decade after the plan was introduced.
"Without the Murray, we're all buggered," he said.
"I can't believe that after all these years of having a Murray Basin Plan they can't rectify it and get water down the river when it's needed,"
"In the 70s we did a lot of rehabilitation around here with all the channels going and put into pipelines. A lot of the growers paid for that. Surely if one state can do it, the rest can do it."
"The whole nation needs to get behind it," he said. "They need it to grow food, to cook, to wash. Everyone needs it."
The Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance, which attended the press conference, suggested that water purchasing would be the most cost-effective and efficient way to address the shortfall, a view that conflicts with the Coalition's policy of ending water buybacks. A review of the Basin Plan is due to be completed later this year.