The Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) has extended the submission period for its Northern Review, giving more opportunity for communities affected by water buybacks to have their say.
It is critical that community members, business owners, farmers and others take the time to lodge a submission before the new deadline – February 24, 2017.
The MDBA’s draft recommendation to the Federal Government was to reduce the total volume of planned water recovery identified within the Murray Darling Basin Plan from the original target of 390GL to 320GL.
While that may sound like a step forward for irrigating farmers and communities, it must be understood that 278GL of water has already been taken from production, with devastating consequences for growers and townsfolk.
The MDBA’s own social and economic research shows that a drop in full-time employment of up to 35 per cent in communities like Warren, Collarenebri and Dirranbandi. The same research also identified significant impacts on many other Basin communities such as Wee Waa, Moree and Mungindi, all of which have been battered by decades of water recovery by both state and federal governments.
Given the impact already seen, it is fair to argue that a reduction in the water recovery target to 320GL is not a step forward, and won’t produce a positive result for the communities already battered by the Basin Plan.
I urge every reader to make their voice heard and make a submission about how the Basin Plan has affected them, and their concerns for the future. Making a submission is incredibly easy: visit www.farmers.org.au/morethanflow
