‍Friday 28 November 2025

Taxpayers will have to stump up an additional $1.3 billion to meet Labor’s target to buy back 450 gigalitres of water for environmental flows in the Murray-Darling Basin, almost double the original funding allocation of $1.575 billion.

Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories and Shadow Minister for Regional Communications, Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster said the review of the ‘Water for the Environment Special Account’ (WESA) exposed the staggering $1.3 billion additional cost, showing Labor remained fixated on green ideology at any cost, rather than real world actions.

“Achieving the 450 gigalitre water buyback target is nearly impossible under current funding and timelines – and it is not required,” Dr Webster said.

“Major food producers in irrigation districts like Mallee say Canberra’s buyback activity is sending water prices through the roof, almost doubling since November last year,” Dr Webster said.

Graph: Bureau of Meteorology Water Trade volume and median prices, July 2024 to November 2025

Other factors potentially contributing to price increases are dry conditions and reducing water in major storages.

After attending to support Wemen-based Select Harvests’ nomination as Regional Exporter of the Year at the Australian Export Awards on Wednesday night in Canberra, Dr Webster noted that the Sunraysia powerhouse had the same day told the Australian Stock Exchange water prices will be a major cost driver for the business.

Select Harvest reported an almond yield of almost 25,000 metric tonnes and a near $31 million increase in net profits after tax, their Wednesday ASX statement also stating:

The Company notes for the 2026 year we are seeing some increasing costs across key input prices that we do not control such as water, bees and fertiliser and work is underway to try and mitigate these increases.

“Major regional employers in irrigation districts, and taxpayers, are coughing up more funds to pay for Labor’s water purchasing fantasy,” Dr Webster said

“The Murray-Darling Basin Authority Sustainable Rivers Audit rightfully puts the focus on the quality of water rather than volume.

“The WESA 3^rd review report tells us what we already know – like so many of their plans to raid regions for votes in the cities, Labor’s plan is unrealistic and unachievable,” Dr Webster said.

“Marsden Jacob’s technical analysis found that even without budget constraints, the total volume of water recovered is likely to fall 50-100 gigalitres short of the 2027 target.

“If the agriculture sector ran its operations like the current Labor government they would have gone broke decades ago.”

New data in the Water for the Environment Special Account (WESA) 3^rd review also found that of the $331 million allocated to the Sustainable Communities Program (SCP) to address negative social impacts of buybacks, no funds had reached the community as at the end of September.

“Labor has yet again paid lip service to the people of the Murray-Darling Basin – in their arrogance every cent of water buybacks is to buy the votes of inner-city environmentalists,” Dr Webster said.

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