The federal government will push ahead with unpopular water buybacks from farmers despite Victoria opposing the move in a bid to complete the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
The Albanese government is lining up with the Greens against farmers to deliver landmark national water reforms.
The water minister has just two weeks to save the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. She must cut a deal with the Greens or Coalition,who are demanding concessions.
A scathing Productivity Commission review has backed Tanya Plibersek’s push to take control of the environmental plan,but farmers are putting up a fight.
How can it be so hard to ensure the continued survival of such an important river system which underpins the livelihoods of 2.6 million people?
Victorian farmers will miss out on cash for water-saving infrastructure projects if the Albanese and Andrews governments can’t do a deal.
Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek has struck a deal with all states along Australia’s largest river system bar Victoria that will extend the deadline to return water to the environment from irrigation.
The environment minister said the plan would not meet its July 2024 plan to restore the basin as she warned of looming environmental disaster.
This little Victorian fish was presumed extinct in the 1940s,but after successful captive breeding,the first batch is about to be released into the wild.
The recovery plan is on track to miss its 2024 deadline,with the federal water minister to face opposition from states as she tries to complete the reforms as promised.
A run of back-to-back wet years has delivered priceless riches as bird breeding and fish migration explode across the previously parched Murray-Darling basin.