Government spending under the Murray Darling Basin Plan appears to be mere make-work schemes for bureaucrats and their favoured consultants rather than progress, according to Shadow Water Minister, Perin Davey.
Following a series of questions through Senate estimates it has been revealed that between July 2017 and May 2024, $95 million has been paid to NSW, South Australia, and Victoria for business cases into removing constraints without a single project actually commencing.
A further $44 million is allocated over the next two years for business cases and technical assessments.
Senator Davey said despite spending tens of millions on these business cases, the Murray Darling Basin Authority has also been allocated $3.5 million to develop a “Constraints Roadmap”, due to be complete in December.
“Why do you need a roadmap if you already have a business case – or multiple business cases in this instance,” Senator Davey said.
Senator Davey noted spending funds allocated to projects on business cases and reviews of business cases appeared to be a contagion across the Basin.
“The Wilcannia Weir, with a $15 million Commonwealth commitment, has seen $7.9 million spent on a business case, only for the NSW Labor Government to halt the project due to incompetence and start again – requiring a new business case.
“The NSW government is also taking three years and $8.3 million to develop a business case for the fishway at Main Weir on the Darling River at Menindee. This is a vital project that has been talked about, reviewed and designed since the last century yet we are still developing business cases.
“In South Australia the Healthy Coorong has seen around $70 million spent on reports and reviews resulting in only one project being identified for potential progress – 70km away from the Coorong at Lake Hawdon.
“Under Labor, we are tied up in red and green tape, incapable of building anything.
“State Governments have become experts at farming Murray Darling Basin funds, with nothing to show for the expenditure of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars but reports.
“With timeframes for key SDLAM projects slipping away, we risk being swarmed with incomplete business cases that lead nowhere giving the Government the perfect excuse to hold further buybacks.
“Spending money like water must be the rhetoric for this Labor Government,” Senator Davey said.
ENDS