SOUTH Australia's High Court challenge to Victoria's 4 per cent cap on water trade is nothing but a political stunt, says RICHARD ANDERSON

Last week, South Australian Premier Mike Rann finally launched his long threatened High Court challenge to Victoria's 4 per cent cap on water trade.

Mr Rann is playing election cycle politics by tapping into what is a vein of South Australian anger towards the upstream states over water.

In announcing the South Australian Government had issued proceedings in the High Court last week, Mr Rann said the 4 per cent cap was: "a mechanism to protect inefficient and wasteful water practices in Victoria".

Well, that is far from the truth.

Victorian irrigators and tax payers are forking out $1 billion to upgrade our state's irrigation system.

Victorian and NSW irrigators are also the ones delivering water to the Living Murray and Federal Government's $3.1 billion water purchasing program.

On the other hand, the South Australian Government is making money for lawyers.

NSW has delivered 178,800 megalitres and Victoria another 174,200 megalitre to the Living Murray project.

Other projects being finalised will also deliver an additional 120,000 megalitres.

The South Australian Government on the other hand delivered 35,000 megalitres to the Living Murray project.

So far, the Commonwealth has sourced another 257,303 megalitres out of NSW and another 135,535 megalitres out of Victoria.

South Australia has only provided 19,000 megalitres to the Commonwealth.

But here's the big question: Why is Mr Rann taking High Court action now, when he previously agreed to work with Victoria, NSW and the Federal Government to phase out the 4 per cent cap by 2014?

The honourable Mike Rann MP's signature is on the historic June 2004 National Water Initiative agreement alongside other premiers and former Prime Minister John Howard.

In signing the National Water Initiative, Mr Rann specifically agreed to establish the 4 per cent cap by June 2005 and he also agreed to review it in 2009 and phase it out completely by 2014.

Under the agreement the Commonwealth reached with the Victorian Government, 105,000 megalitres of high reliability water have been traded out of gravity irrigation districts since July 1 this year.

This water is over and above Victoria's 4 per cent cap.

This water is part of 300,000 megalitres the Victoria Government agreed to exclude from the cap over the next four years as part of the $3.1 billion Commonwealth purchasing program in the leadup to 2014.

NSW has struck a similar deal limiting Commonwealth purchases to a cap equivalent volume of around 470,000 megalitres.

But Mr Rann does not seem to be interested in sticking to the NWI agreement.

The VFF remains committed to the 4 per cent water trading cap.

The cap is essential to preventing large scale social and economic dislocation of rural communities.

The reduced allocations of recent years have already had a significant economic impact.

Allowing unfettered trade at this time would result in unintended and irreversible consequences for the sustainability of the many rural communities dependent on the irrigation sector.

The South Australian Premier is only interested in enacting a political stunt will do nothing more than drain South Australian and Victorian tax payers of a couple of million dollars.

This is money far better spent on boosting water use efficiency or supporting irrigators.

And given the delays faced in proceeding with the case over the Christmas-New Year period, it is unlikely to be finalised until well after the South Australian election in March.

Mr Rann isn't looking for a win, just the benefit of electoral spin and soap box politics.