A northern Victorian water lobby group is calling on the Victorian Government to block water transfers created by the Federal Government’s buyback of Murray-Darling water.

However, the Victorian Government says it cannot legally refuse to do the transfers.

The Federal Government has been spending millions of dollars buying water from irrigators to accumulate more environmental water in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Victoria has become a prime target for the purchases because of its inherent security.

The Victorian Government is against random buybacks, but the latest push ramps up the pressure on the state to act.

The Goulburn Murray Irrigation District Water Leadership Forum maintains that under the Water Trading Rules for Declared Water Systems, the Victorian water minister has the authority to reject applications to trade water shares if they are likely to cause material adverse impacts on the environment or other water users.

GMID Water Leadership Forum co-chair Andrew Mann said these Commonwealth water purchases will significantly reduce the consumptive pool available for irrigation, leading to detrimental effects on regional communities, agricultural productivity and the future viability of the irrigation system.

“Of major concern to members is the fact that our own Victorian Government has no idea of where the recent water purchases are coming from within its own jurisdiction, despite numerous requests to be kept informed,” Mr Mann said.

He said it was extraordinary that the Federal Government would ride roughshod over the state government in this way.

“This behaviour denies the Victorian Government the opportunity to consider the implications of the buyback effects and to communicate with and keep local communities advised of what they can expect and how they might be assisted by their own state government.”

A Victorian Government spokesperson said Victoria does not support open-tender buybacks which have significant consequences for local communities.

“Due to Commonwealth legislation, the minister for water cannot legally refuse the transfer of ownership of a water share to the Commonwealth,” the spokesperson said.

According to the state government, Victoria has delivered more water than any other state towards the 450 Gl of additional water and will support the return of water to the environment that meets the agreed socio-economic criteria.

Mr Mann said the latest move by the Federal Government threatens the livelihoods of farmers and the economic stability of our region.

“We cannot afford to lose more water from our irrigation districts, and we urge the Victorian Government to stand firm in blocking these transfers.”

Former State Member for Shepparton and co-chair of the GMID Water Leadership Forum, Suzanna Sheed, reinforced these concerns.

“The Victorian Government has consistently opposed buybacks, yet we now see millions of dollars’ worth of water being taken from our communities,” Ms Sheed said.

“It is imperative that [Victorian Water] Minister Tierney exercises her discretion to prevent this from happening and protect northern Victoria’s irrigation future.”

Contract details published on the Federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water website show about $50 million has been spent on water buybacks, including two sales of $13.9 million from Duxton Water.

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