Calls for basin plan to address economic harm

Council is urging decision-makers to place greater weight on what it describes as the real and lasting economic harm experienced by irrigation-dependent communities such as those across northern Victoria.

The submission draws on local data to demonstrate how the cumulative effects of water recovery have contributed to significant structural decline in the shire's dairy sector.

It also calls for the basin plan’s next phase to focus on outcomes, community resilience and recovery rather than additional water recovery.

Moira Shire is home to more than 2900 connected irrigation customers and generates an estimated $1.35 billion in manufacturing output and $1.086 billion in agricultural output each year.

Dairy has long been central to the local economy, supporting on-farm employment, manufacturing jobs and the viability of several towns and service centres.

Council's submission documents significant structural change over the past decade.

The number of local processors has anecdotally fallen from more than 400 to around 50, and locally collected milk volumes have declined from about 4.4 million litres to around 900,000 litres per annum.

Employment in dairy production fell from 731 jobs in 2016 to 470 in 2021, while dairy manufacturing jobs declined from 735 in 2016 to an estimated 330 in 2026.

The submission highlights the January 2025 announcement by Bega that it would close its Strathmerton dairy processing plant as a striking example of how localised impacts can escalate quickly once critical thresholds are crossed.

Water recovery under the basin plan set the underlying conditions that have made dairy manufacturing vulnerable to other economic factors.

Council chair administrator Graeme Emonson said council’s submission was intended to give the review a clear, place-based picture of what aggregate data could miss.

“Basin-wide indicators can appear stable while individual communities experience lasting economic loss,” he said.

“Our submission shows that social and economic harm often only becomes visible after key thresholds have been crossed — and by that point, the damage is already difficult to reverse.

“We are not asking for special treatment. We are asking the authority to recognise that its assessment tools need to account for delayed and compounding impacts at the local level, and to ensure future policy does not repeat this pattern in other irrigation-dependent communities.”

Council's submission endorses the Murray River Group of Councils' regional submission and calls on the review to:

• Shift focus from total water recovery volumes towards measurable environmental and community outcomes.

• Recognise that social and economic impacts can be delayed, but rapidly accelerate once production and processing fall below viable thresholds.

• Consolidate water recovery settings where environmental objectives are already being met.

• Consider targeted programs to support communities to recover from the economic and social harm already experienced.