“He’s not buying water, he’s buying the air that runs over the dams,” Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt said.
Of the 240 billion litres the Rudd Government purchased, less than 48GL would have flowed in the rivers under this year’s allocations. Much less would have reached the Murray River to help Adelaide’s water supply crisis and the dying Lower Lakes.
Nearly half the water is in the Gwydir and Lachlan river systems. But both end in terminal wetlands, meaning only in flood years does the Gwydir flow into the Darling River, and the Lachlan flow into the Murrumbidgee. The waters of the Macquarie, Darling and Barwon are severely reduced in their journey through Menindee Lakes where, when it is full, 460GL evaporates every year.
The NSW Government reacted to the sale by placing an embargo on any further buybacks in the state and demanded that Victorian irrigators be called on to sell their share of water licences.
The Rudd Government is understood to be finalising an additional $50 million purchase of Murray River water from Murray Irrigation Ltd in NSW, setting up a possible showdown with the Rees Government.
Since taking power, Mr Rudd has vowed to spend $12.9 billion on water programs, including $3.1billion to buy irrigation licences and $5.8 billion on irrigation infrastructure.
The program is aimed at saving the Murray-Darling system, which has been badly degraded by reduced water flows caused by a combination of over-allocation of licences and severe drought.
The Prime Minister visited the banks of the Murrumbidgee River near Canberra yesterday to announce the Twynam purchase, which followed last year’s $23million purchase of NSW’s Toorale Station.
Twynam farms 285,000ha over a series of properties in NSW fed by the Murrumbidgee, Lachlan, Macquarie and Gwydir river systems. It is believed to be the biggest single owner of water entitlements in the country.
The company will use the $303million to continue its ongoing process of moving out of irrigated cropping into dryland crops such as grains.
The deal will bring the total amount of water entitlements acquired by the Government to 297 billion litres.
Mr Rudd said the buyback would be a boon for the river system.
“Historical over-allocation and climate change are having a devastating impact on the Murray-Darling Basin’s unique environmental assets,” the Prime Minister said.
“If we don’t start to make this adjustment now, irrigators and the communities who depend on them face a far tougher and more abrupt cut in the future.”
He said his action provided a stark contrast to the Howard government’s failure to buy back a single litre in water licences.
He also rounded on Malcolm Turnbull, the former environment minister, for failing to show leadership on water or climate change.
The Opposition Leader had “squibbed in the face of the right-wing ideologues” within the Liberal Party and the Nationals, the Prime Minister said.
However, Mr Hunt said Mr Rudd should focus on improving irrigation infrastructure rather than buying phantom water.
“He is spending hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money and hoping it rains,” Mr Hunt said.
“What happened to the $5.8billion for vital water infrastructure works in rural areas which the Coalition left for Mr Rudd? Australian farmers want to help to deliver water savings through improved water efficiencies and support this water infrastructure fund.”
“It means, as it rains, the rivers get a greater share. It is the responsible thing to do to purchase water entitlements,” Senator Wong said.
A Twynam statement said the company, controlled by the Kahlbetzer family, had initiated the sale by approaching the Government. “Over the past few years, river water systems have been well below the historical availability of water on those river systems in which Twynam operates due to dry seasonal conditions,” the statement said.
“Twynam has been actively managing the transition of its operations away from extensive irrigation.”
Australian Conservation Foundation healthy rivers campaigner Arlene Buchan said the licences were spread around key bird-breeding areas and other high conservation value areas around the Murrumbidgee, Lachlan, Macquarie, Barwon and Gwydir rivers. “Each of these rivers has wetlands that will benefit greatly from this purchase,” she said.
NSW Irrigators Council chief executive Andrew Gregson said the deal meant the state had surrendered more than its fair share of irrigation licences, with all major water purchase coming from NSW. “There has been no attempt on behalf of the commonwealth to purchase from other states,” he said.
The National Farmers Federation questioned whether the Government had considered the impacts of the sale on local communities.
Nationals agriculture spokesman John Cobb backed the concern, saying he was appalled that his electorate being “hit again”. “Here we have the Rudd Government ripping 240 gigalitres of water out of regional communities, which has the potential to create hundreds of jobs in regional Australia, grow thousands of tonnes of food and fibre to feed people and permanently stimulate the economy.”