The Murray Darling Basin Authority’s (MDBA) proposed water recovery is still taking too much water from production and communities will continue to be hurt as a result, #MoreThanFlow Campaign spokesperson Michael Murray said this morning.
The comments come following the release by the MDBA’s Northern Basin Review recommendation that the Murray-Darling Basin Plan be adjusted to require a total of 320GL of water to be recovered.
“When Tony Burke signed the Basin Plan into law in 2012, he included provision for the Authority to undertake the Northern Basin Review. Tony Burke acknowledged at the time that more information and research was required to better understand what the Basin Plan settings should be for the Northern Basin Review. The announcement by the MDBA today is the culmination of this review,” Mr Murray said.
“The #MoreThanFlow campaign position is clear - any recommendation that sets a target beyond the current 278 GL of water recovery would be unacceptable to farmers and communities.
“We have always advocated that complementary measures can deliver better environmental outcomes. While we acknowledge that the MDBA has recommended some of these measures, a recovery target of 320GL will still result in further unacceptable job losses for local communities that are already suffering.
“We know from the MDBA’s own research that the communities in the Northern Basin are under extreme stress. Overall community wellbeing is declining and individuals in these communities have some of the lowest levels of personal wellbeing in the nation. With 278 GL of water already recovered from these communities, this recommendation still hits hard on communities that are at a tipping point.
“We’ll work our way through the details of today’s announcement over the course of the next few days, but we cannot support any recommendation that will inflict more pain on communities, or unilaterally reduce the reliability of entitlements.
“The MDBA as recently as last week, said its recommendations on the Northern-Basin Review would have no implication for the Southern Basin. We expect the Authority to uphold this promise when it makes its final recommendation to the Government.
The #MoreThanFlow campaign is encouraging irrigators, business owners and members of the broader community to attend one of the 11 community meetings the MDBA will hold across northern NSW and southern Queensland between 30 November and 9 December – as part of its community consultation process.
“Water recovery in the Basin has significantly impacted rural communities and I strongly urge the people who will be directly affected by the MDBA’s recommendations to attend the community meetings. The MDBA must hear from those directly impacted.
“There is nothing more powerful than the personal stories told by the people of the valleys up and down the northern basin.
“The local perspective is even more important because local communities have thought through how they can support the Murray Darling environment in a real and positive way. There is a suite of genuine complementary solutions to support both positive environmental outcomes and provide necessary socio-economic benefits for local businesses and regional economies.”
The #MoreThanFlow campaign will publish more of its analysis of the MDBA’s recommendation in the coming days. Keep up to date by visiting the campaign page athttp://farmers.org.au/morethanflow and sign up to receive our email updates.
The MDBA community meetings will be held on:
- 30 November, Warren, 30 November Walgett
- 1 December Wee Waa
- 2 December Brewarrina
- 2 December Bourke
- 7 December Gunnedah, 7 December Moree, 7 December Dirranbandi
- 8 December St George, 8 December Goondiwindi
- 9 December Toowoomba
Queensland Country Life is now seeking comment from the Federal Water Minister Barnaby Joyce and local irrigator groups.
