The federal government is preparing to again enter the water market with hundreds of millions of dollars set aside to purchase 70 gigalitres of water from irrigators in the southern Murray-Darling Basin.
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Labor announced in a statement that it will go to tender in the week beginning on July 15 but did not disclose exactly how much it believed it would cost to reach the target.
It also did not disclose how much water would come from irrigators, particularly private diverters, in each state or catchment in the southern basin, however the vast majority will need to come from the upper, mid and lower Murray catchments, the lower part of the Murrumbidgee catchment and the Ovens catchment in Victoria.
ACM Agri has previously reported that $613.4 million could be spent in the coming financial year on a mix of voluntary water buybacks, water-saving infrastructure and constraints to help meet the government's 2024-25 target of returning 100GL.
Murray River Group of Councils chair Ross Stanton warned that one-on-one, open tender transactions with farmers from anywhere across the southern Basin, without a strategic plan developed with communities, "will have serious negative economic impacts on our businesses and our towns".
The Restoring Our Rivers reforms, negotiated with the Greens and cross bench late last year, revamped the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and guarantees to return 450GL a year of environmental flows to the nation's largest river network by 2027.
Federal Water and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek reiterated on Thursday that Labor had also created a $300 million support package for Basin communities. Last month she said the package was in recognition that "there may be social and economic impacts of recovering water".
"We're soon opening tenders for the voluntary purchase of up to 70GL of water from willing sellers in parts of the southern Basin, supported by a water trading strategy released today," she said.
"Our implementation plan also provides transparent, clear information on how progress towards the 450GL target is tracking - helping to restore trust in this country's water management."
Under the Sustainable Communities Program, states will work directly with Basin communities affected by voluntary water purchases, on investments that create and support local jobs and businesses.
In February, Ms Plibersek revealed that farmers, irrigators and water traders were to receive around $205 million for 26.35GL per year of Basin water entitlements.
The majority of those purchases will be diverted into the southern basin and, while they did not contribute to the outstanding amount of water needed under the MDBP, they nevertheless provide some guide to the current market.
The amount paid for each individual transaction is dependant on several factors, including the relative reliability of the water.
Shadow water minister Perin Davey said the government's new voluntary buyback announcement would send "shockwaves" through Basin communities reliant on irrigated agriculture for economic sustainability.
"The tender information clearly says there is no fixed volume to be recovered from each state, each catchment or each water right type," she said.
"Meanwhile, Minister Plibersek signed a document claiming she has considered the social and economic impact of the tender on our communities - how can she say that when she doesn't know which communities to assess?"
She also said the government had failed to publicly announce how many millions would be spent to "take water out of food production".
The revamp of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan also repealed the statutory 1500GL cap on Commonwealth water buybacks.
