Premier Jay Weatherill says the spectre of a royal commission into River Murray water theft is already forcing changes

SOUTH Australia’s royal commission into water theft from the River Murray is already forcing change by upstream states and could end up being a federal inquiry, Premier Jay Weatherill says.

SOUTH Australia’s royal commission into water theft from the River Murray is already forcing change by upstream states and could end up being a federal inquiry, Premier Jay Weatherill says.

Mr Weatherill is on a visit to Loxton, in the Riverland, to explain the terms of reference for the inquiry to river communities.

It followed an announcement in The Advertiser that NSW barrister Bret Walker, SC, is the preferred person to head up the inquiry, which is expected to be finalised by February 2019.

The public is being asked to provide feedback on the terms of reference by January 5.

The royal commission, announced late last month, was prompted by allegations of water theft in NSW which emerged in July, and concerns that upstream states are not adhering to the Murray Darling Basin Plan agreement, which is meant to ensure enough water along the length of the river.

Mr Weatherill said launching a South Australian inquiry had already forced authorities in NSW to make “further concessions to improve the enforcement of their end of the deal”.

“High quality royal commissions can change things,” Mr Weatherill said.

Premier Jay Weatherill with Water Minister Ian Hunter (left) speaks to the media at the Murray River in Loxton. Picture: Tom Huntley

They have a powerful effect when truths are revealed. This is going to put a lot of pressure on the upstream states,” he said.

“They now know there will be a royal commission looking at everything they’re doing, and able to call on them to give evidence.”

Mr Weatherill said he “wouldn’t be surprised if ultimately it becomes a federal inquiry”.

“Other states may well be persuaded to join us,” he said.

“There’s no reason why state governments should protect people who are breaking the law or bureaucrats who are not administering the law.

Pastoralist Katharine McBride at the Murray River in Loxton. Picture: Tom Huntley

“I think they’ll find it’s in their interests to join our inquiry to ensure this is weeded out and everybody recommits themselves to the Murray Darling Basin Plan.”

Water and River Murray Minister Ian Hunter will on Monday and Tuesday attend the first meeting of national water ministers since the allegations of water theft surfaced in July.

Mr Weatherill has put changes to state Parliament to empower the royal commissioner to compel people from interstate to give evidence.

However, the legislation was not approved before Parliament rose for the year and MPs will not return until well after the March state election.

Pastoralist Katharine McBride works in both South Australia and New South Wales and attended the community meeting in Loxton.

Her NSW property, in the Lower Darling, relies on water from the Darling River, which ran dry in 2015.

Mrs McBride said this was a result of rule changes in 2012 “which meant people could pump more water when the river was low”, and others ignoring requirements to monitor and report how much water they pumped.

“In 2015 we had no river for eight months. We rely on it for our drinking water, our bathing and water for the (20,000) sheep,” she explained.

“Kids in our community were getting sick because of the quality of the water.

“It was devastating seeing a river that was okay during the drought and knowing that the issues that we had were completely man-made and that someone upstream was doing us wrong.”

Mrs McBride, who is originally from Adelaide, said she supported the SA royal commission and encouraged other states to participate.

“We’ve been asking for a federal royal commission since the allegations (of water theft) came out in July,” she said.

“What’s important is that we get to the bottom of these allegations and the mismanagement so that we can rebuild a system that is transparent and trusted.”