Efficiency the key to make every drop count

We allocated $3 billion to water buybacks and structural adjustment. This was to be used in a targeted way, in conjunction with infrastructure modernisation. Our vision was to support the reconfiguration of irrigation districts into more water-efficient operations, with buyback funds used to help retire non-viable areas at the end of isolated channels or in salt-affected areas.

Farmers are very aware of the unreliability of water in our "land of droughts and flooding rains". But unlike dryland farmers, irrigators have for many years been largely insulated by the great dams providing water in dry times. But a combination of drought and overallocation left the dams nearly running dry.

Investing in water-saving infrastructure, piping and lining channels, using sub-soil dripper tape instead of flood irrigation - these and other techniques offer real hope for irrigated agriculture even in drier and hotter times.

By taking the easy road of buying water back, rather than investing in making every drop count, Labor has only paid lip service to the Coalition's National Plan for Water Security.

Labor's attempt to paint the Coalition's criticism of its own failures on water as backsliding from the 2007 Water Plan is an effort to distract from its ineptitude.