Manjimup farmers usher in new era for water security after ex-Water Minister Dave Kelly resigns

Growers in the South West’s premiere food bowl region are ushering in a new era for water security, after claiming demoted WA Water Minister Dave Kelly “failed to act” on issues within the region. Manjimup farmers have welcomed the change in guard, with high hopes Mr Kelly’s replacement will work with the community closely when developing or making changes to water legislation. It comes after a tumultuous 12 months for the agricultural community. The State Government in October announced the contentious Southern Forest Irrigation Scheme had been scrapped after an independent review of the modelling — pushed for by farmers — found glaring errors. Australia’s peak scientific body CSIRO found the modelling behind the $80 million project was “incapable” and “not fit for purpose,” over predicting run-off, forecasting wetter years ahead, despite a drying climate, and was based on data more than 30 years old. The project would have seen water pumped from the Middle Donnelly River to a 15-gigalitre dam at Record Brook, distributed through more than 250km of pipelines to about 100 farmers who bought into the scheme located throughout the Manjimup and Pemberton area. A task force made up seven Manjimup farmers was established in November to plan a revised water project to replace the contentious scheme. However, South West farmers remain sceptical, calling on the State Government to ensure a majority of farmers approve any decisions made by the newly formed group after a community water forum in November. WA Water Users Coalition president Bevan Eatts said he would like the new minister to engage with the stakeholders and water license holders across the State, particularly in the Lower South West region. “The government is there to administer the water on behalf of the people and they need to consult the people before they start implementing it in law,” he said. Mr Eatts said the WAWUC met with Mr Kelly last Wednesday — the day before he announced his resignation from the portfolio — to discuss the new draft water reform Bill that will consolidate six water resource management Acts into one, however, were unhappy with Mr Kelly’s response. “They’re (Department of Water) in the middle preparing the drafting of the water legislation and one thing the WAWUC did was we were asking Minister Kelly to put that out as a green Bill to allow comments from stakeholders and licence holders. “Minister Kelly was reluctant to do that but hopefully the new minister will take this opportunity to take a breath and make sure that they gets this piece of legislation right before it gets introduced to parliament. “We need to allow the people that this legislation is going to affect to be able to comment on it.” Mr Eatts — who is an advocate for spring rights — said he is hopeful the new minister doesn’t make any drastic changes to spring rights, the water excemption in the Rights in Water and Irrigation Act 1914. “There’s a few things I’d like to see the minister get their head around before they make any big decisions. “Hopefully the Premier’s decision of who to replace him will be an individual who will engage and listen to the stakeholders and the community both in water and forestry and hopefully we can see some really good outcomes for the Warren-Blackwood region.” Manjimup Water Security Group president John Kilrain said the MWSG were “delighted” to hear of the departure of Mr Kelly from the role. “The SFIS was a total disgrace,” he said. “Then a CSIRO modelling review backed up what our group had been saying all along. “You didn’t need any modelling to know the figures were wrong.” Mr Kilrain said Mr Kelly “failed to act” during the debarkle and welcomed a new set of eyes for the role. “We look forward to working with a new minister in a positive manner to get the changes within DWER our community desperately deserves.”