THE Victorian Farmers Federation has welcomed an announcement by the Murray Darling Basin Authority to consider changes to the basin plan following the Northern Basin Review.
VFF Water Council chair Richard Anderson said the MDBA’s latest update shows the basin plan is a work in progress.
“The Murray Darling Basin Plan was conceived with knowledge that a review and revision of the plan throughout the seven year implementation period would be necessary,” Mr Anderson said.
“We know the MDBA got a few things wrong; we’ve been telling them for years! What we have now that we didn’t have before is the evidence and experience from plan implementation to support our arguments.”
Mr Anderson made clear the VFF’s expectations for the southern basin following the announcement.
“It is our understanding that any changes made to northern basin recovery targets will not impact southern basin targets,” he said.
“It is our expectation that the basin plan in the south will come under the same scrutiny as the north, providing opportunity for the socio-economic impacts of the plan and environmental water requirements to be reconsidered.”
The recent flood events put in question the ability of the MDBA to deliver the flow targets that have been set without causing significant damage to private and public assets.
“Following these flood events there can be no doubt in the mind of the Victorian and Commonwealth governments that the river communities will not accept these levels of impact as a result of a deliberate and regulated environmental flow,” Mr Anderson said.
The VFF will participate in a consultation process for the northern basin changes in addition to future discussions regarding the need for changes in the southern basin.
