Queensland irrigators left questioning Murray Darling Basin Plan

Doubts were raised over key issues around compliance and the lack of guarantee recovered water was going to the environment at meetings in Goondiwindi, Dirranbandi, St George, and Toowoomba in December last year.

During the meetings MDBA chairman Neil Andrew acknowledged compliance was an issue and that reports of illegal pumping had been referred to relevant state bodies as the MDBA had no powers to deal with them.

The ABC Four Corners episode, which aired last night, alleged that water intended for the environment and paid by taxpayers was being illegally pumped into storages to grow cotton further south. 

St George cotton grower Chad Prescott of Balonne Plains said the whole plan had been a disaster and nobody could show evidence of environmental improvements in any river system in the northern or southern basin. 

“I think this plan was supposed to be based on equal emphasis given to the social, economic and environmental outcomes and all three of those outcomes it has failed,” he said. 

“Unless there can be a very definite use for that (environmental) water it should go back into production.

“The problem is the people in the city all want to be reformers. They want to reform something that someone else is doing. Until they look at reforming what they are doing and stop reforming someone else, disaster will keep occurring.” 

The Four Corners episode made allegations that select Barwon-Darling irrigators were tempering with their pump meters to hide their excess water retrieval. 

St George Cotton Growers’ Association President Scott Armstrong said as a local grower water use audits happened regularly and their licenses and meters were checked monthly.

“I know in St George we are audited to death, our licenses are checked and metres read on a monthly basis, the whole scheme relies on that," he said.

“It's done in a very open and transparent way and it works really well.

“The compliance has been raised again and again and we’re endlessly frustrated that one bureaucrat is trying to put a system in place and there is another bureaucrat doing something completely different.”

Member for Warrego, Ann Leahy, said irrigators had raised the issue on numerous occasions and to date the Murray Darling Basin Authority hadn’t come back to them with answers.

“What needs to happen is the Murray Darling Basin Authority, they need to make sure they put in place the appropriate shepherding laws so Queensland environmental water gets environmental assets,” she said.

Natural Resources and Mines Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said he was deeply concerned about the questions raised about the New South Wales Government’s management of water under the Murray Darling Basin Plan and would seek to bring forward the next ministerial council to address the issues.

 “Queensland irrigators and rural communities have been acting in good faith by providing environmental water to the Queensland-New South Wales border as their contribution to protecting the basin,” he said.

“I have previously raised Queensland’s concerns about water shepherding at ministerial council meetings of State, Territory and Commonwealth ministers responsible for water management.

“If these allegations are true, all Queenslanders should feel betrayed.”

Towns such as Dirranbandi and St George have suffered significant business and social losses as a result of the water buybacks and Balonne Shire Council Deputy Mayor Fiona Gaske said it would be frustrating if the allegations were true and their community had done the right thing. 

“It reinforces that in order for the plan to be successful it does really rely on the goodwill of everyone involved in order to comply with their various water management acts,” she said.

“We still need to remember in all of this there are communities that are struggling like Dirranbandi and St George and there is a flow on effect in terms of buybacks.” 

As to whether proven perpetrators would be prosecuted, Member for Maranoa, David Littleproud, said yesterday, the allegations would be investigated and if found true, action would be taken.

“What is important is that we start to look at providing surety for people in the Murray Darling Basin, not just irrigators but business,” he said. 

“If there are people who have done the wrong thing we will prosecute them but give them innocence until proven otherwise.”