Murray Group of Councils hit out at Senate water buyback claims

Group chair Rob Amos said he was particularly concerned by the comment in the report that "the committee accepts that buybacks have an impact on communities but views some of the concerns regarding buybacks as overinflated and not supported by the high-quality evidence base."

The Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee has reported to parliament on the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill 2023.

"It's disappointing that the Senate committee is recommending that the bill is passed into legislation despite the significant negative socio-economic impacts water buybacks will have on our northern Victorian industries, economies and communities," Cr Amos said.

"This statement is not only dismissive of the independent research that show water buybacks have caused significant negative socio-economic impacts, but it also lacks understanding of the concerns of our farmers, workers and industry leaders who have firsthand experience of these consequences."

Cr Amos said the committee's reasoning for using buybacks because they have 'proven to be the most reliable and cost-effective and efficient form of water recovery' was also concerning.

"While buybacks may have short-term efficiencies and less upfront costs, what about the long-term costs of water buybacks on decimated businesses, industries and communities?," he said.

"Or, the long-term costs to Australian families as the reduced availability of fresh diary and produce pushes prices up at the checkout?

"This reasoning is also unbalanced because it doesn't take into account the triple bottom line of social, economic and environmental impacts."

Cr Amos said it would be to hard to "put the genie back in the bottle" once farms and associated businesses started to close, workers started losing their jobs and participation levels in community programs and local sports clubs started to drop.

"These are the 'hidden impacts' of water buybacks and go to the heart of the social cohesion and connectedness of our communities, and the health and wellbeing of our residents," Cr Amos said.

In speaking to the Senate about his recent visit to the MRGC region, Victorian David Van said the simplistic "just add water" approach of the Restoring the Rivers Amendment bill was not the answer.

"We need to be walking hand in hand with the people who farm our land and waterways," Senator Van said.

"We need to listen to their solutions, not rely on city-based modelling to determine the future of our food crops and farming communities."