Royal Commission releases Issues Paper raising questions over Murray-Darling Basin Plan

WHISTLEBLOWERS, witnesses and experts are needed to help the Royal Commission work out whether critical parts of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan are at risk.

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THE Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission has sought public and expert help to determine whether critical parts of the plan to return water to the system are at risk.

The commission will today release an Issues Paper that raises doubts over the amount of water returned, and questions if it is even possible to deliver hundreds of gigalitres intended to save the River Murray.

The Basin Plan has been beset by allegations of water theft, meter tampering, and wrangling between several governments.

The former Weatherill Government set up the independent commission to probe any wrongdoing and whether the plan is likely to achieve its directives. Commission members have travelled to key sites and identified a number of issues, including:

DOUBTS about the amount of water that has already been recovered through buybacks or efficiencies.

The figures might have been “compromised by illegal take”, and improperly measured in the first place.

IN DEPTH: Commission members receive a traditional welcome from Ngarrindjeri elder Major Sumner. Picture: Leon Mead

GENERAL “lack of support” for projects that are meant to deliver 450GL to South Australia, which is for “enhanced environmental outcomes” such as reduced water salinity and improving the water flow to the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth. “Limited progress appears to have been made on these efficiency measure projects,” the paper notes.

QUESTIONS over whether proposed water efficiency projects should even be approved. The Senate is considering whether 605GL that is meant to be recovered for the environment can be offset with efficiencies that still deliver the same outcome.

But the commission has been told the projects may not meet the proper guidelines.

The commission has called on anyone with “key information” to come forward, with emphasis on local residents, irrigators and business owners.

“The Issues Paper identifies key matters of interest from the Terms of Reference that the commission is focusing on,’’ it says.

Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commissioner Bret Walker and senior counsel Richard Beasley with the backdrop of a dredger at the Murray mouth. Picture: Leon Mead

“This can help people wishing to provide a submission, or planning to address the commission at the community consultations.”

The Issues Paper says there are concerns about the current health of the Basin.

“There are varying reports as to whether the Basin Plan, since 2012, has achieved any of its objectives of improving the health and resilience of the ecosystems and ecological functions of the Murray-Darling Basin, the floodplains, the wetlands and other areas of ecological significance.’’

The paper questions the “extent to which progress is being made on the desired outcome of a healthy and working Murray-Darling Basin”.

It continues by saying there is “expert disagreement” about how much water is needed to get a healthy river, and that a lack of protection for water may mean it is taken out of the system before it achieves environmental targets.

WaterNSW has moved to prosecute a number of landowners on the Murray-Darling river system for water theft.