That’s the opinion of NSW Member for Murray Helen Dalton, who has this week slammed the Federal Government for its “sneaky” and “wasteful” plans to rush through 100 gigalitres of new water buybacks before the pending election.
It comes just days after the NSW Govenrment launched an inquiry into the effects of water buybacks on its communities.
“The federal government is so desperate to get these new buybacks through, they are paying well above market value and wasting millions of taxpayer dollars in the process,” Ms Dalton said.
She also slammed the federal government’s attempts to avoid public scrutiny of the new buybacks.
The Department of Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water quietly posted a notice online on Monday, saying it was seeking entitlements in the Southern Connected Basin.
The buybacks are part of the federal government’s controversial Restoring Our Rivers program.
“These so-called environmental buybacks take productive water out of the Murray-Darling Basin system,” Ms Dalton said.
“That means there is less water available for irrigation and our economy suffers as a result.
“Every gigalitre that’s taken from the system leads to increased suffering in rural communities.”
Ms Dalton has again called on the NSW Government to actively oppose the federal buybacks.
“Premier Chris Minns must take a stronger stand against the federal government,” she said.
“He can’t stand by and watch as New South Wales rural communities are trashed by federal water policies.”
Ms Dalton has developed a seven point plan she says will guide the NSW Government on how to “fix” the basin.
Job one, she says, is demanding NSW Govenrment hold an “immediate” inquiry into the social and economic effects of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
Other ways Mrs Dalton is pushing for change is through education, including through her 2024 documentary on learnings from her visit to South Australia and the Lower Lakes, and through a petition which aims to protect NSW landholders from Commonwealth water buybacks.
It calls on the NSW Government to ensure that no water transfers occur without a detailed and transparent report into the expected impact of any Commonwealth buybacks, including the potential economic, social, cultural, and environmental consequences of water resources being diverted away from local communities.
Ms Dalton is spending three months touring her plan around the state, with her Deniliquin session being a breakfast meeting on Wednesday.
It will be held at the Deniliquin Town Hall, with guests asked to arrive at 7.45am for an 8am start.
The session will also include details on how people can have meaningful input into the NSW Government water buybacks inquiry.
The inquiry is being led by the NSW Government’s Committee on Investment, Industry and Regional Development.
More information, including the inquiry's full terms of reference and how to make a submission, is available at www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/listofcommittees/Pages/committee-details.aspx?pk=172.
Submissions close on April 14.
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