The person in charge of water in the new Federal Government has attended meetings with irrigators, who are concerned that changes to water rights and protocols could leave them inundated, rather than irrigated.

South Australian Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham is now the Federal Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, and says changes to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s Constraints management policy will not be detrimental to farmers or communities.

There had been concern after draft plans indicated changes that some speculated would cause excess flooding and a lack of water available for irrigation. Senator Birmingham spoke about the state and direction of planned changes after a community consultation in Mildura. 

“This Constraints Management Strategy is very much at what's being called a 'pre-feasibility stage', just identifying broad priorities that the Murray-Darling Basin Authority thinks should be looked at,” said Senator Birmingham

“It's quite possibly the case that in certain areas of low-lying floodplain, there are benefits to farmers in seeing that get a regular drink occasionally too, but obviously there are times when flooding is detrimental.”

“You've got to make sure it's all done with the knowledge, co-operation and understanding... the Commonwealth can then negotiate things like easements over certain parcels of land if that's going to be of environmental benefit and if it's not going to have some form of economic detriment.”

Senator Birmingham has repeatedly assured farmers that there will be no compulsory acquisition of land for easements, or changes to water entitlements.

“I'm not against looking at the rules. But very importantly, and it's not just the position of the Government, the MDBA itself has made clear that the strategy will not create any new risks to the reliability of water entitlements,” the Senator said

“I will hold them to that 100 per cent, that's the word of the Authority and I take them at their word. But we will also be making sure at the government level that irrigators' rights are not undermined in any way.”