Social and economic considerations should be given the same weighting as environmental impacts in the distribution of water, crossbenchers have told the federal government in a rare show of unity.
Seven of the eight Senate crossbenchers have thrown their support behind changes to water policy, including modifying the 2007 Water Act to better reflect the will of farmers.
The South Australian independent senator, Nick Xenophon, was the only crossbench senator not to support the push.
The independent senator John Madigan said the act was “tilted” towards environmental concerns.
He said farmers were not “environmental vandals”.
“If we’re not saving the environment for people, who are we saving it for?” Madigan asked. “We’re asking for an immediate reform of the 2007 Water Act to give equal weighting to social and economic outcomes as well as the environment.”
An independent review into the 2007 act, released in November last year, recommended that the evaluation of the Murray-Darling basin plan take into account the social and economic impacts of the policy as well as environmental gains.
The independent senator Glenn Lazarus said he joined his crossbench colleagues after seeing the plight of farmers.
“The straw that broke the camel’s back is that farmers just can’t produce crops because of the cost [of water],” he told reporters on Wednesday.
The group of seven has also issued the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, with two other demands.
They want the government to guarantee that all responsibility for water will go to the agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce, and that any work on the Murray-Darling basin plan will be paused until the Senate select committee reports back to parliament.
Xenophon has warned that stalling the “hard-fought” basin plan would be irresponsible.
“Calling for a pause to the basin plan is really, in my view, going overboard,” he said.
Joyce is expected to meet Turnbull after question time on Wednesday to discuss the responsibilities of his expanded portfolio. Water was moved from the environmental portfolio into agriculture as part of the agreement struck with the National party after Tony Abbott was ousted as Liberal leader.
The environment minister, Greg Hunt, retains control of the office of the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, but the branch that decides on water buybacks now falls under Joyce.
National party MPs and at least one of their Liberal party colleagues have pushed for Joyce to be given full responsibility for all aspects of water management.
However, Xenophon said giving the water portfolio to the assistant minister for agriculture and water resources, Liberal Anne Ruston, got the balance right.
“I have full confidence in the arrangements that have been made. Barnaby Joyce is the agriculture minister, and Anne Ruston does have particular carriage of the issue of water,” he told reporters.
“She is a South Australian who has a background in irrigation. She understands the importance of irrigation to regional communities.”
The Liberal Democrat senator, David Leyonhjelm, said now was the time for crossbenchers to press the government for reform of the water portfolio.
“Why now? Because portfolios are being rearranged now; because the new Turnbull government is rearranging things to suit its agenda for the rest of its term,” Leyonhjelm said. “It’s much harder to achieve change once everything is bedded down. It’s because things are in flux right now.”
He did not think it would be necessary for crossbenchers to withhold support for government legislation until the water proposals were considered.
“The government is in no mood to pick a fight with the crossbench, nor is the opposition for that matter. They’re listening to us right now,” Leyonhjelm said.
“There is an appetite within the government to listen to us, and we don’t think it’s necessary to do any blackmail.”
Several crossbenchers have visited irrigation communities in the Riverina district of New South Wales and Shepparton in Victoria to discuss the allocation of water resources with farmers.
“It’s a simple formula. Family farms and communities will thrive if they have enough water. If they don’t get enough water, they’ll die,” the Family First senator, Bob Day, said.
The Motoring Enthusiast party senator, Ricky Muir, added: “There needs to be that balance between not only environment, but social and economic effects [that] water has on communities.”
Xenophon does not believe one aspect can be given priority over the other.
“It shouldn’t be either/or. Unless you have healthy environmental flows, you won’t have the water for the irrigators. You need to get the balance right – I think we do have the balance right,” he said.
