Updated October 8, 2010 09:01:00 ------------------------------
There are warnings today's long-awaited Murray-Darling plan could spark riots in the streets of regional towns which could be hard-hit by expected cuts to irrigation entitlements.
The draft plan, which will be released this afternoon, is expected to recommend overall cuts to irrigation allocations of between 27 and 37 per cent.
Irrigators in the New South Wales town of Griffith say significant irrigation cuts could lead to civil unrest, wreaking havoc across regional Australia and sending food prices soaring.
The Murrumbidgee is high on the list of valleys to be hit hard by water cuts.
Gillian Kirkup, the chairwoman of Murrumbidgee Irrigation which represents more than 2,500 farmers growing food and fibre crops, says a 37 per cent cut would take out more than a third of the area's water availability.
"It is actually huge," Ms Kirkup said.
"That will mean agricultural jobs, there will be about 7,000 cut, and that will translate to about a billion dollars a year just in agricultural business value."
She says stress levels are high and it is not just among irrigators.
"I actually think there could be riots in the streets, and by that I mean it's not just the farmers," she said.
"The community here are desperate. We have lots of diversity but it's all built around water. You take a third of the water away, there is no livelihood for a lot of people.
"Playing with people's lives just doesn't work. People are passionate, they are desperate. Remember we've just come out of 10 years of drought.
"So we've had good rainfalls and our lives are getting back together again, and then we are going to go into a man-made drought of less water which will be a permanent one, of which we won't be able to recover from."
Rob Houghton, who drives a tractor in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, says the forecast cuts would be devastating.
"If that impact was to occur here in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, it would wreak devastation right through the community and industries that hang off the water that flows through these areas," he said.
"Because we do need a critical mass. We need a certain amount of tonnes to go through our rice mills and we need a certain amount of fruit to be produced on an annual basis to maintain the level of employment that is in this area.
"Now if that water gets taken away, quite clearly profit gets taken away and with that jobs."
'Last option'
Queensland Murray-Darling Committee CEO Geoff Penton says he is unhappy the authority has not considered fixing inefficiencies in water use.
"We should be looking in the first instance for win/win scenarios to reduce allocation, in our view that's through water use efficiency improvements - not buyback," he said.
"Buyback is what's been jumped to first by the Federal Government and our committee's view is that it should have been a last resort option."
The former boss of the National Farmers Federation, Peter Corish, says the plan to slash water allocations along the Murray-Darling could kill off many towns.
Mr Corish now heads up PrimeAg, a company that has 65,000 megalitres of water entitlements, which it uses on properties in Boggabri, Moree, Goondiwindi and southern Queensland.
He says he fears towns will die if farmers decide to sell their reduced allocations because they can no longer make a living.
"Some small towns, for example Collarenebri on the Gwydir system, have been dramatically affected by water buybacks in that area," he said.
"There is just reduced economic activity and that, of course, has an impact on social services and the overall vitality and vibrancy of that community."
But Richard Kingsford from the University of New South Wales says more flows need to be returned to key wetlands if the system is to survive long-term.
"What this plan aims to do is deliver water back to those systems and bring them back to a more sustainable place," he said.
The authority will hold a 16-week consultation period with the final figures to be released next year.
'Long wait'
Meanwhile, a water law expert says people should not hold their breath for the implementation of the plan.
Sydney lawyer Jenni Mattila specialises in water law and says it will take a long approval time in different levels of government before anything can be done.
She says the political process will take even longer because the Federal Government will divert the major responsibility and control of the plan to the states.
"The Commonwealth Government is on a knife edge at the moment, so they're going to find it very difficult," she said.
"The Commonwealth will be likely to try and drop the hard decisions down to a state level, and the State Government will need to deal with the fallout from this."
Ms Mattila says one of the main problems it will face is getting approval from a Government comprised of both regional and city electorates.
She says the plan is not only likely to be delayed, but the end result may not include any of the original ideas.
"I think there are too many people who need to consent to this moving forward," she said.
"I think that there's a strong probability that the plan, if it does eventually go ahead, will not go ahead in the form that's currently being contemplated."
Ecologist Richard Kingsford says today's announcement is the most historic decision in water management since the Snowy Hydro Scheme.
"The critical thing here is that what they aim to do is actually deliver water to the major wetlands systems that are being so severely affected by over allocation," he said.
"These are the places like the Macquarie Marshes, the Lower Lakes in the Coorong, the Gwydir wetlands, the iconic sights and I think it's one of the most historic decisions in Australia's history."
WAS Price at posting:
2.0¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
