Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has requested a national independent review of the Murray Darling Basin Plan, just days after his deputy and Water Minister Barnaby Joyce played down the allegations of water theft in the Barwon-Darling catchment.
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Mr Joyce will write to his state counterparts this week seeking their agreement for the Murray Darling Basin Authority to carry out a basin-wide compliance probe of the state-based regulations that govern water use.
Moree Plains Shire mayor Katrina Humphries welcomed the review, but encouraged the government to look deeper into the nation’s water management. “We can’t keep doing things the same way and expect Mother Nature to provide enough water for us, because we know she can’t,” Cr Humphries said.
“We need to find better ways to use what we have. I believe the start of that is the building of more dams.
“We need more water – it’s not rocket science. Everyday we are one day closer to drought, and one day further away from water infrastructure being built.”
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Namoi Water executive officer Jon-Maree Baker said irrigators followed a regulation process that “has been in place for decades”.
“The opportunity here is to have a Basin-wide review, rather than one focusing on the innuendos and allegations made in the Four Corners report.”
Recently, an irrigator in the region was prosecuted for taking water illegally, which Ms Baker said “showed the system is working”.
“That farmer was found to be doing the wrong thing and he was fined accordingly – that’s compliance,” Ms Baker said.
The Murray Darling Basin Authority review will consider the appropriateness of state laws and the adequacy of water measurement and monitoring. The authority will report back to the Commonwealth Government by the end of the year. The review will run alongside an independent review led by Ken Matthews, an investigation by the New South Wales ICAC and an audit by the Australian National Audit Office.