Three days after Senate Estimates, which are designed to shine a light on government expenditure, the Albanese Government has announced a $300 million compensation package in an acknowledgement that water buybacks will have a negative impact on communities.
The Shadow Minister for Water, Senator Perin Davey slammed the government over its deliberate decision to keep taxpayers in the dark and hide the true cost to deliver the Basin Plan by marking both the compensation package and the buyback program ‘not for publication’.
“What we do know, thanks to a report by the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) is that even a small amount of buybacks will see water allocation prices increase and irrigated agricultural production decrease,” Senator Davey said.
“In fact, purchasing even half the water targeted is likely to cost the economy $111 million per year in lost income and push water allocation prices up by 10 percent – meaning it will cost farmers more to produce the food we eat.
“We have already seen Woolworths decide to swap Australian tinned fruit for Chinese imports due to the increased cost of local production[1] and now this report shows further pressures on key industries like horticulture, rice and dairy.”
Senator Davey said it was disappointing taxpayers still don’t know how much Labor’s plan will cost noting the ABARES report only modelled impacts on irrigated agriculture in the Southern Basin.
“ABARES, who looked at allocation prices in their modelling, acknowledged that considering the market value of entitlements is a more reliable measure of the actual cost of recovery.
“Based on the Government’s figures on its most recent buybacks, we know it paid $8,000/ML for water entitlements in the Condamine-Balonne, and between $3,200/MLK for general security and $11,000/ML for high security in the NSW Murray.
“This real world, not modelled, example of the amount the Government will need to pay makes a mockery of the Albanese Government’s claims water buybacks won’t have a major impact on the Australian economy or add pressure to the cost of living,” Senator Davey.
“The blatant secrecy and deliberate disengagement to taxpayers and basin communities will render the $300 million Sustainable Communities Program another Labor white elephant which will not replace the key economic driver of our basin communities which is water,” Senator Davey concluded.
ENDS
[1] Imported fruit: Local growers devastated as Woolworths swaps to Chinese, South African fruit (smh.com.au)
