Premier Steven Marshall calls for independent Murray-Darling Basin umpire
Murray-Darling Basin states will finally meet in Cairns next month, and SA Premier Steven Marshall wants a new cop on the beat to police water use.
An independent umpire cracking down River Murray water usage would be created under Premier Steven Marshall’s push to stop “states marking their own homework”.
Mr Marshall says he’ll push for its creation at a meeting of first ministers in Cairns next month to address a lack of trust about water usage in the Murray-Darling Basin,
He has pushed for the meeting to be convened by Prime Minister Scott Morrison since the SA Royal Commission into the River Murray handed down its findings earlier this year.
Mr Marshall said the independent umpire — which would operate alongside the Murray Darling Basin Authority but with a specific focus on compliance — was needed to make sure river states were “doing the right thing”.
“We need this independent position in place to restore trust in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, and to make sure that here in South Australia we get the water that we signed up to in the plan originally,” he said.
“The current arrangements where individual states get to essentially mark their own homework is completely unacceptable.
What we want to see is an independent umpire appointed to make sure that the states and the ACT do exactly and precisely what they’ve signed up to do and that will deliver important environmental water here in SA.”
Mr Marshall said he was yet to discuss his plan for an independent umpire with Mr Morrison, but said he would “advocate hard” for his position.
“Its not going to be an easy negotiation but it’s one that we’re up for. We want to make sure that we get the very best deal for our state,” he said.
All river states would have to agree to the creation of an independent umpire for Mr Marshall to get his wish.
Asked if his push was doomed given strong political support for irrigators in NSW and Queensland, Mr Marshall said all states had signed up to the basin plan and were required to deliver it “in full and on time”.
He said the plan was “not perfect” but stressed it not being delivered would be the worst outcome for SA.
Opposition environment spokeswoman Susan Close said it was “about time” Mr Marshall announced a push to crackdown on compliance given it had been raised in both the Royal Commission and a Productivity Commission report.
The federal Labor Party’s federal election platform included a promise to strip the Murray-Darling Basin Authority of its compliance powers and create a federal environmental protection agency to guard against water theft.
Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley and the NSW and Queensland environment ministers were contacted for comment.