The failure of Victoria and New South Wales to finalise water resource plans was the greatest current concern for the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA), according to its chief executive Phillip Glyde.
Mr Glyde was addressing the Victorian Parliamentary Environment, Natural Resources and Regional Development Committee into the management, governance and use of environmental water.
“The number one thing that is worrying the authority is a lack of progress on the finalisation of water resource planning,” Mr Glyde said. “All of the states were given seven years to put in place detailed water resource plans, which were reflective to the overall commitment they had made in setting the basin plan. We are now five years into that seven year period, we have 36 plans, and only one has been accredited – that’s from Queensland.”
The plans outline how the Murray–Darling Basin’s water resources would be managed. “We are really getting quite worried the intent of this overarching plan might not be delivered if we don’t get the plans in place,” Mr Glyde said.
We are really getting quite worried the intent of this overarching plan, which has been signed up to by six governments, might not be delivered if we don’t get the plans in place.
- Phillip Glyde, Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) chief executive.
Mr Glyde said many people found it hard to accept the Murray-Darling Basin plan, as “it goes right through the middle, it doesn’t satisfy any particular interest group.”
He said it was important the MDBA used the plan to reassure the wider community water was going to its highest value use, while the authority was looking after the environment and small towns along the two rivers.
Victoria’s Water Minister Lisa Neville said the state was required to prepare two water resource plans, one for the Wimmera-Mallee and the other for northern Victoria, by June 2019. “We’ve completed one water resource plan, which has been submitted and currently awaiting feedback from the MDBA and the other plan is on-track for completion in 2019,” Ms Neville said.
The plans include an explanation of the region’s water resources, and the state’s existing water management framework.
