With the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) conducting its Northern Basin Review, Cotton Australia has called on the Authority to release important research on the impact to communities affected by the Murray-Darling Basin Plan (MDBP).
Cotton Australia General Manager Michael Murray says the MDBA has been collating research on the social and economic impact of the plan on 21 northern basin communities, but only a small amount of the results have been made public.
"Cotton Australia and many other farmer and irrigator representative groups are genuinely concerned about the lack of transparency exhibited by the Authority on this issue," Mr Murray said.
"With the Northern Basin review coming to an end, it is imperative that the Authority release the results of all its research, and include a summary document on the impacts assessed for the 21 communities.
"We had hoped that, in the interests of transparency, the Authority would release that data before finalising its Northern Basin Review, which is intended to consult with the public on the Plan's impacts.
“Snippets that have been put in the public domain show impacts of up to 35% on full-time employment in communities like Warren, Collarenebri and Dirranbandi.
"The Authority has resisted all calls to issue the research. We are baffled as to how the Authority expects to conduct a supposedly public and open review of the Plan’s impacts by withholding information crucial to the review itself."
"How can communities and representative groups be expected to provide adequate feedback while being denied access to the Authority's own research?"
"Cotton Australia and other groups say the MDBA is not being completely transparent in this process, and so we call on the Authority to release the research before the Northern Basin Review closes, which is expected in late September 2016."
"We cannot have confidence in the Basin Plan process, nor the Authority, until the data is released and transparency improves."
Mr Murray said communities affected by the Murray-Darling Basin Plan should have no doubts that the full implementation of the Plan in its current form would have devastating effects on farmers and towns. Cotton Australia has argued strongly for water acquisitions under the Plan to be halted, and for complementary measures to be introduced.
"Enough is enough - water acquisition across the Northern Basin should stop at the current level of approximately 278 gigalitres," Mr Murray said.
"Furthermore, we argue the 'simply add water' approach already in place is deeply flawed and should be abandoned."
"Funds that would otherwise be spent on obtaining the additional 112 gigalitres currently required under the Plan should be redirected to the implementation of a suite of complementary measures, which would leverage real environmental outcomes from the water recovered."