Socio Economic

It is critical to understand and assess socio-economic outcomes from water reform. This includes not only farmers and the agricultural sector, but the communities who rely upon irrigated agriculture.

Water reforms which reduce the availability and affordability of water for irrigation have significant flow-on or ripple effects across communities. Less water for farming flows through local communities to mean less local employment, decreased expenditure at local businesses, less children at schools and thus less teachers, less services within communities (such as access to healthcare), and less participants to form local sporting clubs. This is known in economics as the 'multiplier effect'. 

The below resources provide key information on socio-economic impact assessment from water reforms. 

Quotes from the Foreward to the Final Report: Independent Assessment of Social and Economic Conditions in the Murray Darling Basin, by Robbie Sefton, Chair, 2020

"Our Basin communities are changing. The pace has been rapid and the impacts profound. The future is no longer secure or certain for some people and regions, despite their hard work."

"Despite this despair, we witnessed industries and businesses defying these outlooks. They are predominately in larger Basin communities with more diverse economies."

The Report said later:
"Analyses the Panel commissioned and our consultations with rural and regional communities demonstrate the significant risk for some regions and industries if further recovery from the consumptive pool were to occur at the current planned pace and extended drought and climate change induced drying followed." Page 9.

"We know that there are areas where further recovery would inevitably impact communities currently under considerable stress and we urge the pace of further recovery be matched to communities’ capacity to cope with more change. Acknowledging the substantial work done to date, we also need to intensify efforts to demonstrate and maximise the environmental benefits from water recovery and ensure our rivers have the capacity to achieve them." Page 11.

Our snapshot into community impacts of water recovery

The Murray Darling Basin Authority has developed in-depth community profiles for the Northern Basin (2016) and the Southern Basin (2017) - see below. However, much has changed in Basin communities since then. Significantly, further water recovery from farmers has occurred, as well as floods and droughts, which all act to amplify the localised impacts of a future with less water.

We took a look at a select few communities, where a large percentage of water recovery has occurred, to see how they are performing and what trends exist.  Critical to this analysis is understanding the scale of any further water reductions, which is currently unknown. 

Resources

Government and independent research

MDBA Southern Basin community profiles

The MDBA developed community profiles as part of the 2017 Basin Plan Evaluation for:

• 40 irrigation-dependent communities
• five communities with little or no irrigated agriculture
• the centres of Deniliquin and Shepparton-Mooroopna.

Northern Basin Review – technical overview of the social and economic analysis

This report focuses on 21 communities in the northern Basin, recognising water recovery affects individual communities in different ways.

Independent assessment of social and economic conditions in the Murray–Darling Basin

The assessment panel included Chair Robbie Sefton, Andrew Kassebaum, David McKenzie, Dr Deborah Peterson, Michelle Ramsay, Bruce Simpson and Rene Woods, who met with 750 people in communities, received more than 70 submissions to the draft report and commissioned extensive social and economic research.

Social and economic impacts of Basin Plan water recovery in Victoria

Frontier Economics report for the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, on socio-economic impacts of the Basin Plan in Victoria.

Industry research

Impact of water buybacks on the sMDB Dairy Industry

The impacts of water buybacks on the dairy farming industry in the southern Murray-Darling Basin. 

NSWIC Rural Schools Impacts from buybacks report

The socioeconomic impacts of water reform on schools in the NSW southern Murray-Darling Basin.

NSWIC Job Impacts from water buybacks report

The employment impacts of water reform in the NSW southern Murray-Darling Basin.