SUBJECTS: Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Let's go back to the $13 billion Murray Darling Basin Plan struck between the Federal Government and all the key states and territories that rely on the Basin, except Victoria, and it's a big exception. I spoke earlier to the Federal Water Minister, Tanya Plibersek.

TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Well, my door remains open to Victoria, and this is a great deal for Victoria, as it is for the other states and territory. This is how we achieve the Murray Darling Basin Plan. What we're offering as a Commonwealth Government is more time to achieve those deadlines that are in the plan, more money to finish off the infrastructure projects, the water saving projects that are underway, to take up new opportunities for water saving projects that can be completed by 2026.

We're putting more options on the table. We know that we need to make sure that every option is available to us, and with all of that of course comes more accountability. This is the path forward to delivering on the plan, which has been sadly off track for the last decade. About 84 per cent, more than 80 per cent, 84 per cent of water that's been recovered towards the Murray Darling Basin Plan has been recovered when Labor was in government, just 16 per cent has been done in the last decade of Coalition rule.

So we've got to get our skates on. We know that the next drought is just around the corner, and unless we prepare for that drought, the 3 million people who rely on this river system for their drinking water, the plants, the animals, the towns, the communities, the industries, will really struggle when the water dries up again.

ROWLAND: Yeah. But equally the Victorian Government is concerned about the impact water buybacks have on many regional communities in Victoria, and also makes the point that it   or it argues   that it's put more water back into the system than any other state or territory. Has the Victorian Government got a point on those fronts?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, no, not really. I mean every state and territory across the Basin of course has to make a contribution to achieving the objectives of the Murray Darling Basin Plan, and a significant amount has been done towards meeting the Bridging the Gap target, but of the 450 gigalitres of additional environmental water, that is the part of the plan that is really struggling, only 2 gigalitres of that was achieved when I became the Environment Minister. So out of 450 gigalitres of additional environmental water, when I became Minister, just 2 gigalitres had been recovered. There's still quite a long way to go to achieve the objectives of the plan.

And when it comes to voluntary water purchase, I've been very clear all the way along that voluntary water purchase will have to be a part of achieving the objectives under the plan. Of course we will look at water saving projects, water efficiency projects, easing the constraints on the flow of the river, looking at rules changes, all of these options are on the table, but voluntary water purchase inevitably will be part of the solution in coming years, and I actually don't need the Victorian Government's permission to do that. That is something that we need to change at the Commonwealth level. There's currently a cap on the amount of water that can be bought through voluntary water purchase, we've got to remove that cap in the Commonwealth Parliament, and the Victorian Government doesn't have to agree to that water purchase in their jurisdiction.

ROWLAND: Okay. Water buybacks, okay, clearly part of the deal. How much water will be recovered through buybacks as part of the plan?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, that's still to be determined for a couple of reasons. We need to really properly assess how much water we can recover through those water efficiency projects, the ones that are already underway, any that might come forward that can be completed by December 2026, we're open to new projects as well, so we need to make a final assessment about that. I'm not really willing to say how much water we're preparing to buy at any one time, because I am worried that that would distort the water market.  What I would say is that we'll do all of those other approaches first, we will be in the market to buy water, we'll try and spread that out over a period of time, we don't want to buy too much water too quickly, and we're already right now testing the market.  As part of meeting the Bridging the Gap target, we're buying about 44 gigalitres of water, and that tender is going on well at the moment, and it's given us a good idea of the fact that there are willing sellers in the market.

ROWLAND: Just finally, of course, this, the legislation setting this up has to get through Parliament. The Greens are unhappy, we have stakeholder groups like the National Farmers Federation unhappy, calling on the Coalition to step in and block the legislation. Are you worried, it's a very ambitious plan but it may not get through Parliament?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, it is tough to get it through, but I have to say there's something in this for everyone across the spectrum in the Parliament as well. What the Liberals and Nationals have been calling for is more time to deliver the plan. Well, that's on the table. What the Greens, and all the South Australians in particular, have been calling for is certainty around that 450 gigalitre target for environmental water that the previous government so comprehensively failed to deliver. Well, that certainty is on the table.

So I think with a bit of common sense and a bit of compromise we can land this thing, and more importantly, we must, we absolutely have to. We know that the next drought is just around the corner. For the sake of our environment, for the sake of the 2.3 million people who live across the Murray Darling Basin, we need to make sure we get this right.

ROWLAND: Tanya Plibersek. Appreciate your time this morning, thank you.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Thank you.

ROWLAND: That's the Minister joining us from Sydney Airport early this morning.