Abstract
The passage of the Water Act 2007 by the Australian Government was an historic moment in the management of the Murray-Darling Basin, a transboundary river system home to 16 Ramsar wetlands and responsible for generating approximately 50% of the country’s irrigated produce (Murray-Darling Basin Authority 2017). The Act sought to end decades of unsustainable water use—principally for irrigated agriculture—by introducing new limits on water extraction across the Basin. The vehicle for achieving this goal, the Basin Plan, was in turn passed in late 2012. However—and contrary to the requirements of the Act—the limits imposed under the Plan were not sustainable, not least of all because they failed to take into account likely, future climate change. Implementation of the Plan’s various sub-instruments and strategies has also been beset by statutory and policy changes that privilege consideration of socio-economic factors over environmental outcomes. This chapter examines the aforementioned reorientation and sets out a series of recommendations intended to restore faith in water reform processes in the Murray-Darling Basin. It is also hoped that this analysis will assist regulators and stakeholders to identify and manage possible barriers to proper implementation of domestic and international water laws in other, transboundary basins.
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Notes
- 1.
The provisions regarding environmental outcomes in the Basin generally and the CLLMM region specifically are provided for in the objects of the amending Part 2AA, rather than substantive provisions. Furthermore, the language employed in this Part is discretionary, which means that the outcomes sought in the CLLMM region are not strictly binding (except to the extent that failure to achieve them would result in a breach of the Ramsar Convention, which could in turn undermine the constitutional validity of the Water Act and Basin Plan). The requisite date is mid-2024: Basin Plan, cl. 7.11.
- 2.
The final Basin Plan requires the MBDA to produce a Constraints Management Strategy. Constraints are physical and policy constraints which inhibit the delivery of environmental water onto floodplains. The Constraints Management Strategy was published by the MDBA in 2013.
- 3.
Though at the time of writing, the Water Act had not been amended to include the newly assented to provisions.
- 4.
Documents obtained under the FOI Act reveal that this group sought to strike a deal with the MDBA to be paid $5,500 for entitlements purchased through an efficiency works scheme.
- 5.
See also the submission by the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists (2017), which critiqued the Authority’s scientific methodology.
- 6.
Documents obtained under the FOI Act indicated that total jobs in Warren actually increased after the Millennium Drought. This information has not been objectively reported in the publicly available report entitled ‘Northern Basin Review—technical overview of the socio-economic analysis.’ Rather, this report focuses on job loss during the Millennium Drought; it also imputes job losses to water recovery rather than water scarcity during the drought (Murray-Darling Basin Authority 2016, pp. 43–44; EDOs of Australia 2017, p. 2).
- 7.
See submissions by the following NBAC member: Mal Peters (Chair); Sarah Moles; Geoff Wise; Ed Fessey. At the time of writing, they were available on the MDBA website: https://getinvolved.mdba.gov.au/bp-amendments-submissions.
- 8.
The ‘Draft NSW Prerequisite Policy Measures - Implementation Plan’ was released for targeted consultation in May 2015.
- 9.
The carp herpes virus is still being tested, and as yet is not considered safe for release in the MDB (CSIRO 2017).
- 10.
This includes consideration of the AGS’s (2010) advice.
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Legislation
Water Sharing Plan for the Barwon-Darling Unregulated and Alluvial Water Sources 2012 (NSW).
Water Act 2007 (Cth).
Water Amendment Bill. (2015) Replacement Explanatory Memorandum.
Cases
Basin Plan Amendment (SDL Adjustments) Instrument 2017 (Cth).
State of Victoria v Commonwealth (1996)186 CLR 416; 138 ALR 129.
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Carmody, E. (2018). The Unwinding of Water Reform in the Murray-Darling Basin: A Cautionary Tale for Transboundary River Systems. In: Holley, C., Sinclair, D. (eds) Reforming Water Law and Governance. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8977-0_2
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