FRUSTRATION was clearly evident among those who attended the Senate Select Committee meeting on the Murray Darling Basin Plan in Goolwa yesterday.
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The meetings, with another held in Renmark today, were organised to help Australian senators question regional communities about the social, economic and environmental impacts of the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
The senator panel consisted of chair David Leyonhjelm, NSW, secretary Mark Fitt, ACT, Bob Day, SA, John Madigan, Vic, Matthew Canavan, Qld, Nick Xenophon, SA, Robert Simms, SA, and Anne Urquhart, Tas.
Many of the presenters at the Goolwa meeting had already put forward submissions that outlined the impacts the plan had to their businesses and communities, with some allocated a further two to three minutes to express their views.
The over-arching theme among those that gave evidence to the panel was to allow the plan to be implemented, including former Narrung Peninsula irrigator Neil Shillabeer, who is also a member of the Community Advisory Panel for the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth Management Group.
“I believe the basin plan must be delivered on time and in its entirety to provide an equitable and balanced solution to the management of our declining resource,” he said.
“I am at a loss to understand – when millions of dollars were spent developing the plan and all jurisdictions agreed to and signed off on it in 2012 – as to why it was not left to run its course until 2019?
“Then in the ensuing years, real time scientific and practical information derived from solid montoring and evaluation will determine the benefits or otherwise of the plan and it can be adapted accordingly. Why tamper with it?”
While Alexandrina mayor Keith Park said his council and community “overwhelmingly supported” the plan.
“Those that opposed it this morning do not represent the local community,” he said.
“We know returning basin resources to a sustainable footing is not an easy task, but there is no compromise involved for all river communities in the pursuit for the greater good.
“The plan is the result of an inter-governmental negotiation and process, it’s based on peer-reviewed science and is supported by ongoing socio-economic analysis and community input.
“It’s the best chance we have to secure a sustainable future for basin communities and the industries that support them.
“Halting the implementation of the plan would create great uncertainty, it would undermine hope for the future that has returned to our community.”
Other public hearings were held in Broken Hill and Griffith in NSW, St George, Qld, Echuca and Shepparton in Vic, and in Canberra, ACT, with the committee to provide a final report to the Senate in early 2016.
