Tuesday, 29 Sep, 2020 | Agriculture, Irrigation & Water, Sugar Industry
Water pricing is shaping up to be a key election issue for irrigators in North Queensland, with the sugar industry backing a call for prices to be dropped by 25 per cent.
The Australian Sugar Milling Council said a 25 per cent reduction in state government irrigated water tariffs could add $220 million to Queensland’s economy over the next four years, while supporting thousands of jobs in the regions.
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Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto rose in parliament on Tuesday to query Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk about the economic boost hosting the AFL grand final would give Queensland, versus addressing water costs.
“It is estimated that hosting the AFL grand final will generate 80 jobs and give a $17 million boost to our economy,” Mr Dametto said.
“A 25 per cent reduction in state water tariffs will add $220 million to the Queensland economy, supporting jobs over the next four years-the equivalent of 11 AFL grand finals.
“The government has done it’s best to rip the guts out of agriculture in this state through its farm-destroying vegetation management legislation and new reef regulations.
“The layering up of legislation and regulation has stripped farmers of their full yield potential, the least they could do is provide financial relief through water tariff reduction.”
Mr Dametto asked Ms Palaszczuk whether she would meet with Katter’s Australian Party and members of the sugar industry to discuss their plan to reduce water prices by 25 per cent.
Ms Palaszczuk committed to the meeting, saying she was ‘always happy to meet with members of the Katter party.’https://83385638acfbe9dbe277ade93abc7004.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html
KAP Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter said agriculture and mining would continue to prop Queensland’s economy up but it could not afford to continue being constrained by high water prices.
ASMC chief executive officer David Pietsch said the KAP commitment and its offer to broker talks with the Premier on the critical issue of water prices was a positive development.
The LNP has also committed to cut irrigation water prices by 20 per cent.
“The Queensland sugar industry has hung tough through this pandemic and we’re calling on the government to invest in our sugar industry’s capacity to generate more jobs and more economic benefits for regional Queensland,” Mr Pietsch said.
Mr Pietsch said the Queensland sugar industry generated more than $4 billion to the Queensland economy each year and supported more than 23,000 jobs throughout the state yet faced significant challenges from higher input costs and government charges, increasing overseas competition and depressed global sugar prices.
“We can help Queensland back on the road to recovery and support the Premier’s focus on job creation, but not without a reduction in water charges,” Mr Pietsch said.
Tuesday, 29 Sep, 2020 | Irrigation & Water, Sugar Industry
The Australian Sugar Milling Council (ASMC) left a meeting with the Queensland Government this week remaining optimistic that political consensus for irrigation water price cuts can be achieved to boost regional Queensland’s COVID-19 recovery.
The LNP and Katter Australia Party have made policy commitments ahead of the election to cut irrigation water charges by almost 20% and 25% respectively. A water price cut would boost productivity and provide an economic stimulus for communities that rely heavily on the sugar industry.
Meanwhile, the Queensland Government has frozen irrigation water prices until May next year while it considers a recommendation by the Queensland Competition Authority for further substantial price increases in water charges.
ASMC Chief Executive Mr David Pietsch said milling representatives delivered a clear message to the Queensland Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy, Dr Anthony Lynham at the meeting.
“We have laid out a compelling case for the Government to invest in lower water charges to help regional Queensland back on the road to recovery and support the Premier’s focus on job creation,” Mr Pietsch said.
“The Minister was certainly sympathetic to the challenges facing the sugar industry now and into the future, however the Government has yet to commit to the certainty the industry requires on water charges,” he said.
Mr Pietsch said an independent study commissioned by the ASMC found a 25% reduction in irrigation water charges would cost $68 million over four years but generate an extra $220 million in economic value – a return of $3.20 for every $1.
Wilmar Sugar Australia, the nation’s largest sugar manufacturer with four mills in the Burdekin region alone, said ASMC’s proposal made strong economic sense.
“The viability of our mills hinges on a secure supply of sugarcane, and that is directly linked to affordable irrigation,” General Manager Operations Mike McLeod said.
“The Burdekin is one of the most productive sugarcane growing regions in the world and water is a key input.
“Without affordable irrigation water, productivity will fall. That would put both the growing and milling sectors under pressure,” concluded Mr McLeod.
Mackay Sugar, Australia’s second largest sugar milling enterprise, said ASMC’s proposal made strong economic sense.
“As water prices go up, growers use less water so it directly impacts on them and their productivity and on our profitability in the factories, so for a sugar mill business like ours, we need every tonne of cane we can get every year,” said Mackay Sugar Executive Director, Mr Mark Day.
“If we were able to get another 600,000 tonnes of cane, it’s about another $40 million worth of revenue, now that revenue goes into our workforce, into the harvesting crews, and goes into the growers and basically stays in this community so while the growers are using less water we’re not getting that extra revenue” said Mr Day.
Mr Pietsch said the Queensland sugar industry generated more than $4 billion for the Queensland economy each year and supported more than 23,000 jobs throughout the State, but the industry faced significant challenges from increasing overseas competition and depressed global sugar prices.
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Wednesday, 12 Aug, 2020 | Irrigation & Water, Sugar Industry
Frustrated Bundaberg farmers are in the process of launching a class action against the Queensland Government over the failure of Paradise Dam.
Bundaberg lawyer Tom Marland, Marland Law, said the class action focused on the alleged negligent management of Paradise Dam and deceptive and misleading conduct by the Queensland Government.
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Mr Marland said the application was currently being drafted, which would be filed with the Supreme Court in the next few weeks.
The farmers have also engaged class action expert Douglas Campbell QC, and barristers Matthew Donovan and Justin Byrne to progress the class action.
Mr Marland said farmers would allege the State Government was aware of the potential deficiencies with the dam as early as 2005 and after floods in 2011 and 2013, failed to take reasonable steps to repair those deficiencies.
“Despite knowledge of deficiencies to the dam and potential risks of failure, the State Government through a government owned corporation, SunWater, continued to market and sell water from the dam up to September 2019 when it was announced that 100,000ML would be released from the dam and its capacity reduced to 42pc,” Mr Marland said.
“Sunwater undertook a public expression of interest process in September 2018 where it offered water for sale at a discount of up to 50pc of the market value of water being traded from the dam.”
Mr Marland said a report commissioned last year revealed the Bundaberg community would suffer a $2.4 billion loss over a 30 year period.
“We consider that the losses incurred will be much more significant than first estimates which did not include the reduction in property values associated with the reduction in water security in the Burnett system and also the loss of production from reduced allocations,” Mr Marland said.
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“Impacts are already being felt in the Bundaberg community with this year’s water allocations being slashed to 70 per cent with the dam at 41pc.
“The whole region is still drought declared. Allocations could be zero per cent next year if we don’t get good rain over summer.”
Mr Marland said the pain endured by the Bundaberg community during the 2013 floods was used a way to scare people into thinking that the dam was unsafe, diverting attention from the government’s own negligence and mismanagement.
LNP Natural Resources Shadow Minister Dale Last said it was a disgrace that $100 million was being spent to reduce the height of the spillway by 6m in the middle of a major drought.
“Wide Bay Burnett farmers have been treated with contempt and the economic security of the region has been put at risk by the Palaszczuk Government,” Mr Last said.
“Tearing down dams in the middle of a drought shows there is no economic plan for the Wide Bay and doesn’t care about our farmers.”
Mr Last said the LNP would repair Paradise Dam, directing SunWater to work with international expert Dr Paul Rizzo on the design of the stabilisers. That recognised the work Dr Rizzo has carried out on Bagnell Dam in Missouri, which impounds Lake of the Ozarks, the largest man-made lake in the US, he said.
More upstream and downstream water storage options, would also be investigated.
Monday, 3 Aug, 2020 | Agriculture, Irrigation & Water, Sugar Industry
Farmers in the Bundaberg region are launching a class action against the Queensland Government.
They’re alleging “negligent management and deceptive and misleading conduct” in relation to the handling of Paradise Dam on the Burnett River.
Last September, dam operator Sunwater and State Government announced the dam wall would be lowered by 5 metres for safety and stability reasons.
Lawyer Tom Marland, who is acting on behalf of 2,500 claimants, said the State Government was aware of potential structural issues at the dam not long after it was built in 2005.
“We’ve been trying to work with the State Government since September last year to try and get common sense in relation to the management and future management of Paradise Dam,” he said.
“The political process has failed the Bundaberg region and all of those hardworking farmers that rely on the water from Paradise Dam.”
The legal action follows the judicial review that was filed to the Supreme Court earlier this year in a bid to stop work going ahead on the wall.
“The class action is for the damages and losses which are going to occur as a result of the loss of that water,” Mr Marland said.
Mr Marland said the class action was also against alleged mismanagement.
“There have been millions of dollars of investment poured into this region directly because of the water reliability of Paradise, and there is going to be billions of dollars of lost productivity as a result of the lost water,” he said.
‘Thousands of jobs on the line’
Bundaberg region macadamia and avocado grower Craig Van Rooyen said thousands of jobs were at risk if work continued at the dam.
“We have tried on many occasions to bring sense to this matter but we’ve now unfortunately had to go to class action,” Mr Van Rooyen said.
“As growers and as a community we want this dam remediated to full capacity so that it is safe for the community and also water to supply and grow the region because, at the moment, there are hundreds of millions of dollars on hold waiting to see what happens and that’s thousands of jobs on hold.
“If that wall keeps coming down we are going to lose thousands of jobs not just in agriculture.”
The class action is due to be filed in coming weeks.
Monday, 13 Jul, 2020 | Irrigation & Water, Sugar Industry
Bundaberg district farmers say they are concerned for the future of agriculture in the region, after SunWater only announced 70 per cent allocations from Paradise Dam.
The water level of the Burnett River storage has been lowered to 42 per cent while essential safety work is carried out on the dam, including lowering the dam wall by 5.8m.
Work began to lower the dam wall height last month, after concerns were raised about the stability of the structure and the safety of downstream communities in a major flood event.
Following the work the capacity of the 300,000 megalitre storage will be permanently reduced by 57 per cent.
Neighbouring Childers farmers John Russo and Steve Hoffmann, said the impact of permanently reducing the capacity of Paradise was already starting to be felt.
“Everyone has been worried what would happen to announced allocations once the dam level was lowered,” said Mr Russo, who grows cane, peanuts and macadamias.
“Starting on 70pc allocation is certainly a challenge, but I’m more worried about next year.
“What will next year’s allocation be if we don’t have serious inflows into the dam?”
Mr Russo said many farmers had young macadamia orchards
“We’re all worried how we will keep those trees alive and get them through to maturity,” he said
Steve Hoffmann, who grows cane, peanuts and opportunity forage crops, said the was concerned that less reliable allocation meant he would not be able to plant opportunity crops.
“It’s a double whammy at the moment,” Mr Hoffmann said. “We’re just been through 18 months of dry conditions. In fact, we’re currently drought declared in this region, and now the announced allocation is only 70pc.
“I’ve made large investments in water infrastructure over the last few years to improve water use efficiency on my farms,” Mr Hoffmann said.
“Now I can’t even be sure I will have water to put through it.”
Mr Hoffmann said there was going to be some tough decisions made around the district this irrigation season.
“Growers are going to have to prioritise which crops they irrigate and which crops they neglect,” he said.
“It’s not a future we were expecting when we learnt Paradise Dam was going to be built.
“We thought a dam on the Burnett River would finally provide long term water security, but now everything is in doubt.
Mr Russo said strongly criticised the handling of Paradise Dam.
“We’d never see a dam in the south east corner of Queensland being lowered, so why is it happening here,” he said.
“It almost feels like we’re being penalised for being outside the south east corner” said Mr Russo said.
“Farmers just want to grow food for our state and our country, but we need reliable water in order to be able to do that.
“I’m very worried for the next generation, like my son, who are facing so much uncertainty about water security now.”
Monday, 6 Jul, 2020 | Agriculture, Irrigation & Water
Blockchain technology is being trialled in Far North Queensland irrigation district, Mareeba-Dimbulah, to improve water trading in the region.
The pilot project is using technology developed by young Australian company Civic Ledger and is funded by the Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia.
Chief executive officer and co-founder of Civic Ledger, Katrina Donaghy, said blockchain allowed for an asset to be moved from person A to person B in a way that couldn’t be duplicated and was visible to everyone in the market.
In the Mareeba-Dimbulah irrigation district, where mostly fruit and sugar cane is grown, it’s hoped the technology will help irrigators trade between themselves allowing for better utilisation of the water that is available.
Chairman of the Mareeba-Dimbulah irrigation scheme and mango grower Joe Moro said he saw the blockchain technology as a way to add transparency to water trading in the region.
“In the Mareeba-Dimbulah irrigation area there is some water trading going on but it’s an experiment, in a sense that the information isn’t available, people don’t know who wants to sell and at what price,” Mr Moro said.
“This technology would make clear what’s available and the determination of price would be a lot easier.”
The Mareeba-Dimbulah Irrigation Area was once a tobacco growing region but now supports mostly horticulture and sugar cane. Photo: courtesy Tropical Tablelands Tourism.
The Mareeba-Dimbulah Irrigation Area was once a tobacco growing region but now supports mostly horticulture and sugar cane. Photo: courtesy Tropical Tablelands Tourism.
He said the irrigation district, which supports more than 1000 water users and has a total of 204,424 megalitres in water entitlements, was in a growth cycle, with an increasing number of high-value horticultural crops being established.
“It was traditionally a tobacco growing area but once tobacco was shut down by the government, it became a very diverse horticultural and sugar cane base,” Mr Moro said.
“With banana plants in a seven-year cycle and fruit trees able to produce for 20 to 30 years or more, there is an interest in long-term water security.”
He said most growers had medium priority water that was highly reliable, with an 100 per cent allocation announced nearly every year.
“There is also a percentage of water that is unused, we refer to it as insurance water, which is available for temporary transfer,” Mr Moro said.
Rob Braunack, Civic Ledger chief operating officer with Joe Moro, chairman of the Mareeba-Dimbulah irrigation scheme and Katrina Donaghy, Civic Ledger chief executive officer and co-founder.
Rob Braunack, Civic Ledger chief operating officer with Joe Moro, chairman of the Mareeba-Dimbulah irrigation scheme and Katrina Donaghy, Civic Ledger chief executive officer and co-founder.
CRCNA chief executive officer, Jed Matz said one of the reasons they were funding the project was to find out how much water could be made available for further agricultural use.
“What we’ve heard, talking to the producers up there, is if they had more water available to them they would expand their operations, or value add,” Mr Matz said.
“That’s the anecdotal evidence, now we can try and put some numbers behind it with this research,” Mr Matz said.
He said blockchain technology would also remove the transaction cost for trading water.
“The price will also be more transparent, it will be interesting how that impacts the system as well,” he said.
The blockchain technology is designed to work within the existing regulations, which in the Mareeba-Dimbulah scheme means water can only be traded with other users in the system.
Ms Donaghy said Civic Ledger was in partnership with both Griffith University and the RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub, who following the project would asses the technical design, enabling blockchain to be quickly rolled out in other irrigation schemes.
“We hope what we achieve at Mareeba will continue and we can work on building new water markets throughout northern Australia,” Ms Donaghy said.
