Sunday Mail Column - SA's water supply

In the ancient world there are examples of entire cities being abandoned when the water supply dries up. Confronted with a river system on the verge of collapse and a potential environmental catastrophe, we need action to save the Murray Darling River.

At the recent COAG meeting in Adelaide, with the glare of the nation’s media shining bright upon them, Kevin Rudd and his state Labor counterparts managed to pull off a daring stunt. With great fanfare they first announced a Murray Darling agreement, spectacular in its insufficiency to fix the problem. They followed up by making a billion dollar bribe appear, and then disappear almost overnight.

Fifteen months ago the Howard Government announced plans to nationalise the Murray Darling river system, putting $10 billion on the table.

After initial negotiations to establish an independent body to administer the water allocations of the river system, the deal came a to grinding halt as a belligerent Victorian Government refused to give up its rights to allocate water licences to Victorian irrigators.

The most crucial factor for South Australia is ensuring that sufficient water flow arrives at our border to meet the needs of our irrigators, our domestic supply, and our environment and eco-system.

With the continuing drought breaking records in its obstinacy, and eastern states’ helping themselves to our national resource upriver, there simply has not been enough water flowing in to South Australia.

The lower lakes and the Coorong are drying. The natural environment is dying. South Australian irrigators are in dire trouble, and water supplies for the city of Adelaide have reached troublingly low levels.

During the election campaign Kevin Rudd said “me too” to John Howard’s Murray plan. He promised a Labor Government would be able to deliver an agreement using his special relationship with State Labor colleagues. He promised action.

Judgement day came for Kevin Rudd in Adelaide on Wednesday 26 March. Appearing unprepared and surprised by the level of interest in the water issue (while “water” was not mentioned in the strategic press leaks before COAG, and it did not even rate its own item on the agenda for discussion), immense local and national pressure saw the focus of COAG shift dramatically from the much touted (and now forgotten) health changes to the Murray Darling River.

Going into the meeting Victorian Premier John Brumby said it was very unlikely that he would make a deal on water. As the day went on we heard whispers of locked door meetings and private discussions. Finally at the end of the day we saw the result of Kevin Rudd’s “cooperative Federalism”.

Allegedly, the recalcitrant Victorians had been convinced to sign up to the Murray plan in exchange, we were lead to believe, for an extra billion dollars to be spent on Victorian irrigation projects. The next day’s headlines broadcasted a historic billion dollar deal. Rudd had allegedly delivered what Howard couldn’t.

But then, like the Murray’s flow, the truth in the fine print slowly trickled out.

This historic deal to nationalise our water supply was a great big con.

The fundamental point of a national water deal is to transfer the power of water allocation away from the States who have acted only in their own interests for decades. Kevin Rudd’s deal leaves the States with the right to allocate water until the year 2011 when a CSIRO report is completed. Victoria’s water allocation agreements will remain locked in until 2019.

We need action now, not in 2019. 

The next con in the deal is the new independent water authority that will oversee future water allocations. We were told it would act in a similar fashion to how the reserve bank sets interest rates, acting in the National interest, not appeasing sectional interests.

The fact is that States will retain full rights to dispute allocations in a drawn out process without any set timeline before it will be referred to a Federal Minister. The independent body, far from having the final say in anything, sits under 8 feuding State Ministers and a responsible Federal Minister.

And as for the famed billion dollars that got Victoria over the line? By the following Monday it was no where to be seen.

Victoria had in fact won the right to prioritise their irrigation projects with a billion out of the original $10 billion deal, ensuring their farmer’s irrigation ditches are covered to reduce evaporation, but not affecting one iota the amount of water they’re entitled to withdraw. The new agreement also endorses the north-south pipeline from Eildon to Melbourne which will take even more water from the Murray for Victoria, which is an express breach of an election promise by the Victorian Government.

So, to sum up – at COAG the Rudd Labor Government made a historic deal that will not increase water flow in the Murray as a result of the reallocation of water licenses until 2011 at best, and in reality 2019. They announced an extra billion dollars for Victoria that didn’t exist. Then the Victorian Premier went straight on to regional radio in Victoria assuring irrigators that he retained the power to allocate water if the new independent body didn’t do so favourably for Victorians.

Never has there been a truer expression than South Australia has been sold down the river. The Rann Government has consistently failed to secure South Australia’s water supply, obstinately refusing to build a desalination plant until finally caving into pressure by the state opposition. Meanwhile Victoria has won the right to continue to drain the Murray dry while we watch our state wither in record hot spells.

We need a state and federal government less concerned with the symbolic or historic media news grab and more concerned with delivering real outcomes.