SA to receive $265m for basin management

28 Oct 2012, 4:19 pm   -   Source: AAP
The Environment Minister says SA will receive $265 million funding for the Murray River project. (AAP)

The Environment Minister says SA will receive $265 million funding for the Murray River project. (AAP)

South Australia will receive up to $265 million of federal government funding to manage the Murray River project, Environment Minister Tony Burke says.

South Australia will receive up to $265 million of federal government funding to manage the Murray River project and for research and development projects, Environment Minister Tony Burke says.

The funding, to be made available over six years, was announced two days after South Australia was rejoicing at news the government plans to pump billions of litres of extra water into the Murray-Darling Basin ecosystem.

The eastern states were less pleased with the plan, with Victorian Water Minister Peter Walsh branding the announcement a "stunt" to appease South Australia.

"South Australian farmers are some of the most water efficient in the nation," Mr Burke said in a statement on Sunday.

"This support will allow them to continue their good work."

About $180 million will go to the state to run the Water Industry Alliance's River Murray Improvements Program to improve efficiency and productivity of water use along the river.

A further $85 million will be provided under a new national partnership agreement for research, regional development and industry redevelopment, the minister said.

"In return for the funding, up to 40GL long-term average annual yield of water will be provided to the environment," he said.

"This will help bridge the gap to the sustainable diversion limits under the basin plan."

Funding for these proposals had already been set aside in the recent mid-year economic and fiscal outlook, Mr Burke said.

SA Premier Jay Weatherill welcomed the funding, saying it recognised the respect the state's irrigators had shown for the river system.

It was also a major step in ensuring the burden of returning the river to health would not fall on the state, he said.

"The funding, along with the prime minister's commitment to return to the river the water it needs, will provide much-needed certainty to our $6 million professional fishing industry, the $600 million horticulture industry and the hundreds of local businesses in the $200 million tourism industry," the premier said in a statement.

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