That is the key message Federal Senator for NSW Perin Davey wants basin states to understand after requests from NSW to extend project deadlines are being blocked by South Australia, Queensland and the ACT.
The three states seem unwilling to budge, insisting that the element of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan be delivered on time.
‘‘Our communities have already been through so much with the basin plan, and we’re 98 per cent of the way through,’’ Senator Davey said.
‘‘The only way to get through the rest is to get the structural adjustment mechanism projects done.
‘‘New South Wales had the biggest amount of work left to do, and if they need time to get it right they should be given time.
‘‘For South Australia in particular to say ‘we don’t care what happens in your state, deliver it on time or buy back water’ shows a complete lack of respect.
‘‘I have made my position that we need an extension very clear to water minister Keith Pitt, and that it is not just irrigators affected by this. These projects are about communities and the environment too.’’
Senator Davey said also of contention are discussions on constraints in the Barmah Choke at the Ministerial Council meeting Friday last week.
She said it was the subject of a round table discussion at her Deniliquin office just a few days earlier between herself, Finley and Blighty landholders and Federal Member for Farrer Sussan Ley.
‘‘The group of neighbouring landholders came to me and asked for a meeting, with the main discussion point being the health of the choke,’’ Senator Davey said.
‘‘In this area there are varying views — some support a bypass and others do not.
‘‘One thing we all agree on however is that there be no further recovery of water from the consumptive pool.
‘‘I also appreciate that people are still keen to see the water minister here, and he is still committed to visiting once COVID-19 restrictions ease further.’’
Ms Ley said she has also impressed on Mr Pitt that the removal of water from the region should not be a fall back option.
‘‘His advisors are providing him with a range of policy options and he is most interested in initiatives around the Murray Darling Basin Authority, its structure and relationships with state government,’’ Ms Ley said.
‘‘I have given him a very strong message that this community cannot give up more water, and if there are problems landing the basin plan the response to that cannot be that these communities are asked to give up water — voluntarily or involuntarily.
‘‘We are having in depth discussions about water that will involve all of the issues we have and what Commonwealth levers we can pull, and I think state governments are at a point where saying to Keith Pitt ‘it is difficult for us to deliver the plan by 2024’, and I think he is hearing that message.
‘‘He is considering the various reports that come to him, that must be tabled by August, and I think we will see some landing of federal policy then.
‘‘But as I always say, we can’t do it alone. We have to have the states; we have to move forward together.’’
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