LICENCES for more than 30 billion litres of water are available to expand irrigation work in the Queensland part of the Murray-Darling Basin.
Federal Climate Minister Penn Wong yesterday rejected calls by water experts to intervene to block irrigation expansion plans in Queensland, The Australian reports.
Senator Wong's stand followed a declaration by the Bligh Government that it would not seek to recover 159 water licence entitlements yet to be activated.
The expansion of irrigation in western Queensland comes as the federal Government prepares to spend $350 million buying back water allocations in the region to boost flows to the Murray-Darling.
The Weekend Australian reported on Saturday that two expanded irrigation ventures on the Warrego River would more than cancel out the water savings from Canberra's $24 million purchase in September of the Toorale cotton property in northern NSW.
The irrigation expansion plans in Queensland loom as a test case for Canberra's newly acquired powers to manage the Murray-Darling Basin.
Queensland Water Minister Craig Wallace said that if all "sleeper" licences were activated, 33.4 gigalitres a year could be extracted in the Queensland part of the basin.
Mr Wallace said the entitlements had been issued under a cap that ensured the protection of environmental flows and the lower basin states.
"Rules governing the extraction of water in the Queensland section of the basin are set under the relevant state plans," Mr Wallace said. "These provide one of the most rigorous and detailed water management processes in the country."
Australian National University water expert Daniel Connell said the federal Government should move to stop the activation of sleeper licences.
Read more on The Australian online.
