In an effort not to embarrass the Albanese Government the MDBA has quietly released its 2022-23 report into water take in the Murray Darling Basin six months late.
The 2022–23 Sustainable Diversion Limit Accounts Registers of take and interim registers of take, March 2024 report shows that consumptive water use across the Basin is well below allowed levels.
The Shadow Minister for Water, Senator Perin Davey said the central claim in the government’s $14 million advertising campaign of “… water being overused” has been proven a lie by the MDBA’s report.
“The Government’s claim water is being overused and the Murray Darling Basin is at risk is fundamentally wrong,” Senator Davey said.
“It is disingenuous of the government to waste taxpayers’ money on advertising campaigns using fake CGI imagery and stock photos from Turkey and Sydney to convey false information when in fact the reverse is true.”
Senator Davey pointed to the report finding that every valley in the MDB used less water than was permitted in 2022-23, continuing a trend across multiple valleys ever since accounting commenced in 2019.
“The key role of the Basin Plan is to set a volume that can be sustainably taken from the river systems, known as the Sustainable Diversion Limit,” she said.
“What this report shows is that across the Basin we are operating well under that level – leaving more water in the rivers for the environment.
“All we hear from this Government is a call to take more and more water away from production. Why do we need to keep recovering water if the levels currently being diverted are well below what has been deemed to be a sustainable level?” Senator Davey said.
ENDS