![]() ![]() These efficiency projects have been criticised as double-counting water at the expense of the environment, being very expensive and subsidising irrigators. Here's where it went wrongįurther, $153.8 million of unallocated funding in former “water efficiency” projects in the basin has been (somewhat ambiguously) “re-profiled”. Labor's 'sensible' budget leaves Australians short-changed on climate action. In 2021 a NSW parliamentary inquiry found the proposal was “yet to demonstrate the cost effectiveness and water yield benefits of the project”. Second is the hugely expensive - up to $2.1 billion at last estimate - raising of Wyangala Dam, near Cowra. ![]() It was slammed by the Productivity Commission as excessively expensive and the leading example of poor water infrastructure decision making. Two of the most controversial dam proposals in the Murray-Darling Basin are among those axed or indefinitely postponed.įirst is the $1.27 billion Dungowan proposal near Tamworth in NSW. This week’s budget wields a long overdue axe to dam proposals from Coalition governments, saving $1.7 billion over four years. Proposals for investment in new or refurbished water infrastructure be assessed as economically viable and ecologically sustainable prior to the investment occurring. The Liberal Party has conceded to National Party demands on water even though the National Water Initiative, established by the Coalition in 2004, stipulates: It gained control of the water portfolios in the former federal government and current NSW government and set about trying to build dams, especially in the Murray-Darling Basin. The National Party arguably exemplifies this ideology. AAP Image/Lukas Coch Nationals set about building damsĭams are a talisman for Australians who believe development and the conquest of nature is essential to nation-building. Then Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce and Simon Birmingham visit Scrivener Dam in Canberra, 2014. But they also buy a fight with some quarters of the farming community, and the New South Wales and Victorian governments. These measures promise to deliver more sustainable use of water in Australia’s most economically important and exploited river system. It also positions Labor to undertake further reform in the Murray-Darling Basin by buying back more water from farmers to improve the health of the rivers, and manage the impacts of climate change. It slashes spending on big dams and elevates the role of science in water decision-making. Thankfully, the budget handed down by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Tuesday delivers it. ![]() In our land of drought and flooding rains, better water management should feature in every federal budget. Hockey reputedly said to Joyce “good luck with that, I don’t think you’ll build one of them”. The government’s Expenditure Review Committee apparently supported then Minister for Agriculture Barnaby Joyce’s first A$500 million budget funding for the National Party’s dam-building plans, over then Treasurer Joe Hockey’s objections. A story from the early days of the Abbott government still circulates in the halls of Parliament House. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |