The latest publication from the Wentworth Group citing the failure of the $13 billion, 15-year investment into the Murray-Darling Basin confirms that the insanity has to stop, according to Shadow Water Minister, Perin Davey.
“Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting a different result and that is what we have been doing in water reform since the late 1980’s,” Senator Davey said.
“The Wentworth Group points out that for over three decades governments have been reducing access to water in the Basin for productive use but says the massive taxpayer investment has not delivered the promised benefits.
“That tells me that it is time we took a different approach.
“Instead of focusing on water recovery as we have done since the turn of the century, we should focus on system management.
“For example, we know in the Darling-Baaka we have seen fish deaths following both record low and record high flows so the problem can’t be just volume.
“We also have reports going back 40 years identifying the lack of fish passage in the Darling-Baaka, yet this has never been addressed.”
Senator Davey also pointed to the failure of any progress on constraints management as to the reason why the scientists found a lack of floodplain connection with 79 percent of environmental water releases remaining within channel.
“This is a classic case of the perfect getting in the way of the good,” Senator Davey said.
“The models say you need a certain flow at a certain point, but the community says that is too high and the consequences too great.
“So instead of negotiating a liveable volume and considering associated engineering or management works to get some environmental benefit, we have a standoff which is not working for anyone.”
While the report highlights failures in the expected outcomes of the Basin Plan, Senator Davey acknowledged there has been some success.
“They have successfully transferred ownership of over 2,100GL water under the Basin Plan which, when combined with previous water recovery programs, gives governments around 4,000GL volume to use,” Senator Davey said.
“They have successfully kept the Lower Lakes and Coorong connected since 2012 and there have been some really positive fish and bird breeding events from environmental watering.”
Senator Davey, however, agreed with the scientists’ assertions that clear targets need to be set and quality longitudinal monitoring should be reinstated.
“The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder is effectively the largest irrigator in the Basin, yet unlike farmers who measure and meter water use and crop yield, they don’t report against any clearly defined benchmark.” Senator Davey said.
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