Basin Buyback boasts premature
The Labor Government is again making premature announcements on water recovery for the Murray-Darling Basin without any consideration of what impact it may have on the water market.
Water Minister, Tanya Plibersek, has today boasted about big numbers who have expressed interest in selling water like she did during the previous water buyback which never came to fruition, according to Shadow Water Minister Senator Perin Davey.
“Just like last time, the Minister is counting her chickens before the eggs have hatched,” Senator Davey said.
“Last October (2023) the Minister declared that the 250 tender responses could net twice as much as the 44GL of water needed, yet at the end of the process only 26GL was actually purchased.
“Announcing these figures before contracts are finalised is premature and misleading and is nothing more than over-enthusiastic spin.
“We know from previous buyback tenders undertaken by Labor most offers do not result in water being bought.
“I wonder how many of the 1000 applications meet the Government’s self described criteria of value for money, environmental need and neutral social and economic impacts.
“In fact, I wonder how the Government actually evaluates against their own criteria.”
Senator Davey said people considering whether to participate in the current expression of interest process for a water tender in 2025 will be considering what impact today’s announcement may have on tomorrow’s prices.
