The Federal Government needs to start treating Murray-Darling Basin communities as partners and not “policy casualties”.

It must also immediately end all water recovery “by any means” - including through buyback and rule changes.

Those are among the demands that have been send to the Commonwealth by Riverina and Murray region councils, who say the actions of the government are putting regional communities at risk.

The strong approach stems from news of the Federal Government’s latest Murray-Darling Basin water purchase which emerged last week, reporting that through a buyback it paid more than $430 million for almost 86 gigalitres of water.

The move has been condemned by the Riverina and Murray Joint Organisation (RAMJO) - which includes Edward River and Murray River Council, and 10 others between Albury and Wentworth - as “another blow to food-producing communities across southern NSW”.

RAMJO chair and Murrumbidgee Council Mayor Ruth McRae OAM said said the purchase shows the Commonwealth is still pursuing water recovery targets “without properly accounting for the local and regional impacts on farming, food manufacturing, transport, service industries and towns”.

“RAMJO supports healthy rivers and a healthy environment,” Cr McRae said.

“What we do not support is a policy framework that continues to take productive water out of regional communities while treating socio-economic impacts as an afterthought,.

“The Basin Plan has been done to our communities, not with our communities.

“This latest buyback confirms that the Federal Government is still chasing numbers instead of delivering practical, place-based environmental outcomes.”

RAMJO’s other demands include calls to redirect remaining water recovery funding to practical environmental works and community support, undertaking “genuine local and regional socioeconomic impact assessment” before further Basin Plan decisions are made and moving away from volumetric water recovery targets to place-based ecological outcomes.

It also demands that local government be given a formal seat at the Basin Ministerial Council table.

RAMJO’s Murray-Darling Basin Plan 2026 Review submission argues that water recovery has already reduced the consumptive pool by 37 per cent in the southern connected basin.

This has already weakened the resilience of water-dependent industries, reduced production of staples such as rice and dairy, undermined irrigation districts, and caused flow-on impacts to food processing, transport, farm services and local jobs.

Cr McRae said the latest purchase would further reduce confidence in communities already carrying a disproportionate share of Basin Plan adjustment.

“Every gigalitre removed from productive use has consequences,” she said.

“It affects what farmers can plant, what processors can source, what transport operators can move, and whether small towns can retain jobs, services, schools, sporting clubs and young families.

“Communities in the Riverina and NSW Murray are not opposed to environmental outcomes.

“We are opposed to blunt buybacks that damage local economies while failing to solve the real environmental constraints.”

RAMJO says the Commonwealth should immediately redirect remaining water recovery funding to collaborative environmental projects that deliver measurable outcomes, including floodplain and wetland works, fish passage, carp control, modern fish screens, riparian restoration and integrated catchment management.

And Cr McRae said the government’s own approach needed to shift away from headline volumes and toward practical ecological outcomes.

“The problem is not simply the volume of water held by the Commonwealth.

“The real barriers are constraints on getting environmental water onto floodplains and wetlands, invasive species such as carp, degraded habitat, cold water pollution and poor fish passage.

“Buying more water does not fix those problems. Working with councils, landholders, irrigation companies and communities can.”

RAMJO also said the Federal Government’s $300 million Sustainable Communities Program is grossly inadequate compared with the economic risks created by continued water recovery.

“Our communities are being asked to absorb long-term structural change for the benefit of a national policy objective, but the support on the table does not come close to the scale of the impact,” Cr McRae said.

“Before any further water recovery proceeds, there must be comprehensive local and regional socioeconomic assessment. Unless impacts are neutral, or knowingly accepted by the affected community, implementation should not proceed.

“The Riverina and Murray are the food bowl of NSW. These communities have helped build the nation’s food security, export strength and regional economy.

“They deserve better than another round of buybacks that drains confidence, reduces productive capacity and ignores local knowledge.”

“The Federal Government must stop buying water, start listening to Basin communities, and invest in environmental outcomes that actually work.”

Deniliquin Pastoral Times Google News Panels

Sunday, 20th July 2031

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