12 October 2010 in Mayo News, Media
Media Release - Reforms of the Murray Darling Basin - Tuesday 12 October 2010
The release of the guide to the Murray Darling Basin plan is an important step in the vital process of restoring health to the Basin.
In January 2007 the Howard Government announced the biggest structural reform to the Murray Darling Basin in Australia’s history. The reforms included the development of a plan for the future use of the Basin to ensure that it was within sustainable limits.
Unfortunately the plan announced by the Howard Government has been slow to be implemented by its successors and in many parts changed at the detriment of the system and communities which rely upon it. For instance it was a major error by the Rudd/Gillard Government to drop the ball on the infrastructure investments that would today be saving much needed water. The mastery of the Howard Government’s plan was that it put in place measures that ensured the viability of food producing areas at the same time as returning much needed water for the health of the Basin.
There are many questions that need to be answered by the Authority in relation to the assumptions made in this guide to the plan and I welcome the substantial commitment by the MDBA to a long consultative process. Communities need to be listed to and have their concerns acted on as much as possible prior to the finalisation of this reform.
While the recent rains have relieved the immediate pressures on the Murray Darling Basin and in particular the lower reaches, this does not remove the need for necessary reform to the system.
It is incumbent on the Gillard Government to ensure that the commitments needed to ensure that this vital reform is implemented are in place.
I remain committed to ensuring that the reforms necessary to the Murray Darling Basin are implemented so that we can continue to use this naturally replenishing resource in a sustainable fashion.