The Commonwealth Government's Murray-Darling Basin water buy-back scheme will continue to put inflationary pressure on water prices, the Rural Press Club of Queensland was told on Thursday.
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Panelists Marti Beeston from the One Basin CRC, Nick Waters, Riparian Capital Partners, and Zara Lowien, National Irrigators Council, addressed the Rural Press Club lunch held in the Tattersalls Club in Brisbane.
The well attended lunch heard while farmers and their communities were resilient and continued to adapt to reduced volumes of water for irrigation, the ever increasing value of water was forcing farmers and other water users to constantly reassess to use of the finite resource.
The panelists said while there were many challenges, it was important to acknowledge what was going right in attempts to reform water use in the basin.
Mr Waters said there were four competing stakeholders for water: Farmers, communities, the environment and First Nations people.
"The basin plan was really struck in a pure compromise," Mr Waters said.
"Everyone came away from it unhappy. I was told when I was growing up that was the sign of a good negotiation.
But I think it's easier to point the finger at where we are going wrong.
"I think what we don't do a lot of is point out where things are going right, and there are a lot of success through the basin plan, in terms of the environmental outcomes and building resilience around irrigation infrastructure.
"I don't see a better way to do it."
Ms Lowien said she hoped the next phase on basin reform could be kept free of politics so the process could focus on outcomes.
"I want to see maximised use of that environmental water rather than this constantly tipping into the bucket," Ms Lowien said.
The Murray-Darling Basin covers about a million square kilometres across five different states and territories and is home to more than 2.3 million people.
According to the Australian Government, agriculture with the basin contributes over $8.5 billion to the Australian economy annually.
The Rural Press Club of Queensland's next event is with new Meat and Livestock Australia managing director Michael Crowley, who is speaking at Tattersalls Club in Brisbane on July 17.
