Bundaberg farmers fear for water security as new national water deal approaches Qld government

In a region that produces a quarter of the country’s fruit and vegetables, farmers fear that a new national water policy could paralyze future investments and put water security at risk.

On the eve of the Queensland election, irrigators in the Bundaberg region, 400 kilometers north of Brisbane, are urging the next state government to reject the new National Water Agreement (NWA) proposed by the federal government.

They fear that whoever wins power on October 26 will be under pressure to approve the draft plan by the end of the year, based on Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (DCCEEW) deadlines.

Old plan leaves First Nations out

The NWA will review Australia’s overarching water policy, the National Water Initiative (NWI), which is 20 years old and considered inadequate to address the challenges posed by climate change.

A 2021 review of the existing NWI also found that it left Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples out of the national water debate and was not aligned with Closing The Gap goals.

The new proposal seeks to incorporate better science and increase the participation of First Nations people in water management.

But Bundaberg irrigator Judy Plath said she ignored the importance of agriculture and irrigators as key stakeholders.

“Ultimately, it is the irrigators and the farmers who use the water right now and we need to have confidence that our water rights are secure and will remain secure under this new water deal.”

For farmers in this Queensland food region, it is another blow to water security as they face years of uncertainty over their primary water storage, Paradise Dam.

The 300,000-megaliter dam was lowered nearly 20 feet in 2019 due to safety concerns and deemed irreparable earlier this year.

Farmer Michael McMahon said he was “disturbed” that water security could be further compromised.

Implications of proposed policy ‘unknown’

Under the existing NWI, state and federal policies set limits on how much water can be extracted from river and groundwater sources, and how water should be shared among households, industry, and the environment.

This month, the federal government’s independent research and advisory body, the Productivity Commission, provided feedback on the draft new deal.

It recommended replacing the 173 proposed principles with a small set of general principles.

He said the purpose, role and intended longevity of the plan needed to be clarified.

“To date, material released by the Australian Government for public consultation has not provided much guidance on the potential scope and conduct of performance assessment requirements in an NWA,” he said.

National Irrigators Council chief executive Zara Lowien said the implications for water management were still largely unknown.

“The latest version we saw is still high-level and aspirational and moves away from the foundational document we got in 2004, which took 10 years to develop,” she said.

Queensland Water Minister Glenn Butcher said the agreement had not been finalized and farmers and their existing rights would not be affected.

The Opposition Liberal National Party spokesman said the LNP would not sign a national water deal in Queensland if it would harm farmers and increase costs for families.

Improving First Nations participation

The 2021 review of existing NWI policy concluded that it did not consider the rights and aspirations of First Nations people to manage, own and control water for their own economic and cultural purposes.

Indigenous Australians hold rights to approximately 40% of Australian land through Native Title, but own and control less than 0.2% of the water, according to the DCCEEW.

Gunditjmara Djab Wurrung man and chief executive of the National Native Title Council, Jamie Lowe, said involving First Nations people in water policy would benefit everyone.

“From an environmental and cultural perspective, for thousands of years we have had excellent water management practices, so from that perspective, First Nations people have a lot to offer,” he said.

Queensland Farmers Federation water and energy policy committee chair Michael Murray said the NWA could become “unbalanced” and “change the way water is managed”.

But Lowe said there was a “glaring” gap in the water market and called on all representative groups to “get below the rhetoric” and uncover the true details of the plan.

“It’s more of a relationship where they can reach a consensus on the use and how to manage water in that specific catchment area.”

A department spokesperson said the NWA draft maintained strong water access provisions already in place.

“And it makes no changes to water rights held by irrigators and other water users,” they said.