Murray Darling Basin boss raises concerns over the progress of the river system fix
The NSW Government has ramped up its threats to pull out of the Murray Darling Basin Plan. But new figures show it is still to complete a raft of work to help make the plan work.
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NSW is yet to finalise a single one of its 20 resource plans that are a key to preserving water in the Murray-Darling Basin.
Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) chief executive Phillip Glyde told The Advertiser that though NSW controlled the most of the plans – 20 of 33 – it had yet to submit a single one.
The NSW Government this week ramped up its threats to walk away from the deal aimed at protecting the health of the river system. The MDBA said water resources plans were “an integral part of implementing the Basin Plan”.
The plans set rules at a local level on how much water can be taken and establishes targets for water quality, monitoring and environmental protection.
They will, for the first time, enable the entire Murray-Darling Basin to be managed as an integrated system.
Mr Glyde said seven years into the 12-year implementation period, there had been some good progress, including 2000 gigalitres of water allocated to the environment.
“(But) there are some things that have not progressed as quickly as originally planned,” Mr Glyde said.
South Australia’s three plans had been submitted and accredited by the Commonwealth, he said. Queensland’s three plans were done and most of Victoria’s five plans and the ACT’s two completed.
“The question mark is over NSW that has the lion’s share of the water resource plans,” Mr Glyde said. “They are yet to be submitted to the Commonwealth and we have got a lot of work to do to ensure they meet the standard.”
NSW Water Minister Melinda Pavey admitted her state had most of the projects.
“NSW is gripped by the worst drought in our recorded history,” she said.
“While we are on track to deliver the plans, our focus is on ensuring our communities don’t miss out.
“The NSW Government will take the time required to work with NSW communities to ensure the balance is right, and we won’t apologise for negotiating the best outcomes for our state.”
SA Environment Minister David Speirs said while delays in finalising the plans did not “impact progress of the critical parts of the Basin plan”, he thought all states were expecting NSW to complete its soon.
Opposition environment spokeswoman Susan Close said the rhetoric and lack of action from NSW was very concerning.
“The fact that David Speirs can’t bring himself to call out the inaction of the NSW Government and remains ever hopeful that the eastern states will suddenly start complying with their Basin plan shows he cannot remain SA’s Water Minister,” Ms Close said.
