MDBA must lift its game

I'll be joined by my federal, state and territory colleagues in Sydney to discuss the plan and key implementation issues.

In my four months as Lands and Water Minister I have met with community and business leaders, environmental managers, irrigators and local councillors, who have all felt the impacts of the removal of productive water from regional economies.

Unfortunately, it appears the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) is not interested in listening to individuals and groups, and using local knowledge and experience to inform the implementation process.

The MDBA needs to understand stakeholder consultation is not about reaching a quota for meetings.

It's about working hand-in-hand with people to have a real say in the future of their own communities.

Rather than embrace local collaboration and practicality, the MDBA has been determined to be solely informed by flow rates and volumes derived by desktop models.

It is so important decisions relating to our natural resources are informed by best science, however, the science informing the Murray Darling Basin Plan continues to remain uncertain.

Earlier this year, the CSIRO released the results of a meta-analysis that examined 301 ecological data sets from Murray Darling Basin wetlands and floodplains for the period 1905 to 2013.

The purpose of the study was to test "prevailing assumptions of recent ecological decline in the Murray Darling Basin".

Most of the data series showed no evidence of decline over this period, during which river regulation and water diversions were developed.

Yet the MDBA is fixated on achieving specific flow rates and volumes rather than achieving environmental outcomes.

The Murray Darling Basin Plan is a complex inter-governmental water sharing agreement that is the first of its kind in the world.

It is only logical we take an adaptive and flexible approach to its implementation and be willing to rethink and adjust our strategies as we go.

I recently sat in a meeting where controlled environmental flow releases were identified as the most significant cause of damage to native fish breeding - this shows we haven't got it all right.

Some 1.5 million megalitres of water has been recovered from the states with hundreds of thousands more committed (for recovery) in the programs commenced across the basin.

In order to meet these commitments the NSW and Victorian governments have developed a series of projects aimed at delivering sensible environmental outcomes with less water, to offset the need to purchase more water out of communities.

Their fate is now dependent on the results of complex black box modelling that only a handful of people understand.

I will undoubtedly face criticism about these projects being delivered late, but I make no apologies for ensuring they are practical, informed by science and capable of delivering environmental outcomes without affecting the wellbeing of our regional communities.

The submission of these sustainable diversion limit adjustment projects means there is no reason for the federal government to be in the market buying more water.

Beyond these projects, I will not support any further non-strategic buybacks in NSW until the MDBA and the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder can demonstrate how they can effectively use the enormous volume of water already in its control.

Agricultural water users in the basin have become the most efficient in the world after being constantly told they have to do more with less, while these organisations manage large water portfolios with little accountability.

NIALL BLAIR,

Minister for Primary Industries and Minister for Lands and Water.