The Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) is the principal government agency in charge of managing the

Murray–Darling basin The Murray–Darling basin is a large geographical area in the interior of southeastern Australia, encompassing the drainage basin of the tributaries of the Murray River, Australia's longest river, and the Darling River, a right tributary of ...

in an integrated and

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

manner. The MDBA is an independent

statutory agency A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or state, sometimes by being empowered or delegated to set rules (for example reg ...

that manages, in conjunction with the Basin states, the Murray–Darling basin's water resources in the national interest. The MDBA reports to the Australian Government Minister for the Environment and Water, held since June 2022 by the Hon Tanya Plibersek. The MDBA was established under the '' Water Act 2007 (Cth)'', which was introduced by the Howard Government as part of " A National Water Plan for Water Security". The ''Water Act 2007'' was a response to the

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

and the potential effects of

climate change in Australia Climate change in Australia has been a critical issue since the beginning of the 21st century. Australia is becoming hotter and more prone to extreme heat, bushfires, droughts, floods, and longer fire seasons because of climate change. Since th ...

. The law aimed to fulfill Australia's obligations under the

Ramsar Convention on Wetlands The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It i ...

. The 2007 Act was substantially amended in 2008. The Chief Executive of the MDBA is Phillip Glyde who replaced Dr Rhondda Dickson. The Chair of the MDBA is Air Chief Marshal Sir

Angus Houston Air Chief Marshal Sir Allan Grant "Angus" Houston, (born 9 June 1947) is a retired senior officer of the Royal Australian Air Force. He served as Chief of Air Force from 20 June 2001 and then as the Chief of the Defence Force from 4 July 20 ...

AK, AFC (Ret'd) who replaced

Neil Andrew John Neil Andrew (born 7 June 1944) is a former Australian politician. He served in the House of Representatives for over 20 years from 1983 to 2004 representing the Division of Wakefield in South Australia for the Liberal Party. He became the ...

after his four-year term as Chair expired in 2019. Whilst the MDBA is a Commonwealth Government agency, an intergovernmental Murray–Darling Basin Ministerial Council (Ministerial Council) acts in an advisory role in preparing and implementing the Basin Plan by the MDBA. The Ministerial Council comprises the Commonwealth Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources (who also chairs the Council) and one minister from each of the Basin states (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia) and the Australian Capital Territory. The Ministerial Council introduced the Murray–Darling Cap in response to the 1995 report titled "An Audit of Water Use in the Murray-Darling Basin".

Role of the MDBA

With the creation of the MDBA in 2008, for the first time, a single intergovernmental body assumed responsibility for

planning Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. The evolution of forethought, the capacity to think ahead, is consi ...

the integrated management of water resources of the Murray-Darling Basin. In addition to the Commission's former functions, the MDBA's role includes: * preparing, implementing and enforcing the Murray-Darling Basin Plan * advising the minister on the accreditation of state water resource plans * developing a

water right Water right in water law refers to the right of a user to use water from a water source, e.g., a river, stream, pond or source of groundwater. In areas with plentiful water and few users, such systems are generally not complicated or contentious ...

s information service which facilitates water trading across the Murray-Darling basin * measuring and monitoring water resources in the basin * gathering information and undertaking research * educating and engaging the community in the management of the basin's resources. The Murray–Darling Basin Authority is an integral element of the Commonwealth Government's program ''Water for the Future'' which has four priorities; namely: # tackling

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

# supporting healthy rivers # using water wisely and # securing water supplies. The MDBA also commissions research into aquatic science and is a source of information on Australian freshwater biology.

History

Since 1914, there have been various intergovernmental agreements relating to Murray‑Darling water resources. Prior to the formation of the Murray–Darling Basin Authority, institutional arrangements for water resources management lay with the five State and Territory governments in the Basin, with little co-ordination. In response to this problem, the Murray–Darling Basin Commission was established in January 1988 under the Murray–Darling Basin Agreement, with a charter to efficiently manage and equitably distribute River Murray water resources. Secondly, it was to protect and improve the water quality of the River Murray and its tributaries; and lastly to advise the Murray–Darling Ministerial Council on water, land and

environmental management Environmental resource management is the management of the interaction and impact of human societies on the environment. It is not, as the phrase might suggest, the management of the environment itself. Environmental resources management aims ...

in the Basin. The controversial history of water allocation in the Basin and disputes between irrigators and environmentalists dates from the 1960s and is documented in the book, ''Cottoning on: Stories of Australian Cotton-growing'' by Siobhán McHugh (Hale and Iremonger 1996), which was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's History Prize in 1997. The ''Water Amendment Act 2008'' was introduced in December 2008 to amend the ''Water Act 2007''. This law transferred authority from the Murray–Darling Basin Commission to the Murray–Darling Basin Authority, creating an independent,

expert An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable s ...

-based body that would manage the Basin holistically for the first time. As at November 2016, the MDBA is four years into the implementation phase of the Basin Plan. The MDBA has published major bodies of work, including: * Basin environmental watering strategy * Annual environmental watering priorities * Constraints management strategy * New water trade operating rules The MDBA also established a water trading scheme across Basin states to increase

water use efficiency Water-use efficiency (WUE) refers to the ratio of water used in plant metabolism to water lost by the plant through transpiration. Two types of water-use efficiency are referred to most frequently: *photosynthetic water-use efficiency (also call ...

. In summer 2018–2019, there were substantial

fish kill The term fish kill, known also as fish die-off, refers to a localized die-off of fish populations which may also be associated with more generalized mortality of aquatic life.University of Florida. Gainesville, FL (2005) ''Plant Management in Fl ...

events in the Murray-Darling basin. A report released in January 2019 by the

Productivity Commission The Productivity Commission is the Australian Government's principal review and advisory body on microeconomic policy, regulation and a range of other social and environmental issues. The Productivity Commission was created as an independent ...

found that the Murray–Darling Basin Authority should be broken up.

Murray-Darling Basin Plan

On 8 October 2010, the MDBA released a major document entitled the ''Guide to the Proposed Murray–Darling Basin Plan'' outlining a plan to secure the long-term

ecological health Ecological health is a term that has been used in relation to both human health and the condition of the environment. *In medicine, ecological health has been used to refer to multiple chemical sensitivity, which results from exposure to synthet ...

of the Murray–Darling Basin. The guide introduced cutting existing water allocations and increasing

environmental flow Environmental flows describe the quantity, timing, and quality of water flows required to sustain freshwater and estuarine ecosystems and the human livelihoods and well being that depend on these ecosystems. In the Indian context river flows requir ...

s. The proposed plan was the first part of a three-stage process to address the problems of the Murray–Darling Basin; namely, over-allocation, prolonged drought, natural climate variability and climate change, leading to deterioration of rivers, wetlands, forests and floodplains in the basin. The MDBA was responsible for preparing the Murray–Darling Basin Plan, which was released in November 2011. The Plan proposes that 2,750 gigalitres per year be cut from water allocations over seven years. The Plan was signed off by

Tony Burke Anthony Stephen Burke (born 4 November 1969) is an Australian politician serving as Leader of the House, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for the Arts since 2022. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP ...

, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities on 22 November 2012, and passed the Australian Parliament on 29 November 2012. The MDBA is responsible for overseeing the legally enforceable management Plan. The main aim of the Basin Plan is to return around 2,750 gigalitres to the river system. The MDBA originally reported that the volume of water as high as 7,600 gigalitres per year would bring long-term sustainability and would be the best scenario for the ecosystems of the basin but "would not be socially or economically viable". The Basin Plan sets and enforces environmentally sustainable limits on the quantities of water that may be taken from Basin

water resource Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. 97% of the water on the Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh water; slightl ...

s. It has Basin-wide environmental,

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

and

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...

objectives and aims to develop efficient

water trading Water trading is the process of buying and selling water access entitlements, also often called water rights. The terms of the trade can be either permanent or temporary, depending on the legal status of the water rights. Some of the western stat ...

regimes across the Basin. The plan includes requirements for state water resource plans and aims to improve water security for all Basin users.Summary of Murrumbidgee Region From the Guide to the proposed Basin Plan
The Basin Plan aims to achieve a balance between environmental, economic and social considerations.

Objections

After the release of the ''Guide to the Proposed Murray–Darling Basin Plan'' there were a significant number of protests and voiced concerns in rural towns that the MDBA visited to present the proposed plan at consultation meetings. In Renmark, more than 500 people attended the Authority's first public consultation meeting in the local hotel that accommodated only 250 people. The draft plan proposed water buybacks of up to 35% in the

Riverland The Riverland is a region of South Australia. It covers an area of along the Murray River, River Murray from where it flows into South Australia from New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), Victoria downstream to Blanchetown, South Australia ...

area, forcing job losses and reduced flows to angry irrigators. Over 5,000 people attended a meeting in

Griffith Griffith may refer to: People * Griffith (name) * Griffith (surname) * Griffith (given name) Places Antarctica * Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency * Griffith Peak (Antarctica), Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Glacier, Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Rid ...

where the local Mayor, Mike Neville, said the plan would "obliterate" Murrumbidgee valley communities. Other groups also echoed this feeling, such as the Victorian Farmers Federation and the Wine Group Growers' Australia. At the same time, there was also support for the draft plan by various groups, including the

Australian Conservation Foundation The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is Australia's national environmental organisation, launched in 1965 in response to a proposal by the World Wide Fund for Nature for a more co-ordinated approach to sustainability. One high-profil ...

, and

Environment Victoria Environment Victoria, formerly the Conservation Council of Victoria, is an Australian not-for-profit, charitable group and Victoria's peak non-government environment organisation. It works in collaboration with over 150 groups Australia-wide to p ...

. In legal advice, dated 25 October 2010, from the

Australian Government Solicitor The Australian Government Solicitor (AGS) is an Australian public servant and a federal government agency of the same name which provides legal advice to the federal government and its agencies. AGS was originally the Crown Solicitor's Office, ...

, the Government's reading is that the draft plan must give equal weight to the environmental, social and economic impacts of proposed cuts to irrigation. Environmentalists and South Australian irrigators say the Authority should stick to its original figure. In October 2010, a parliamentary inquiry into the economic impacts of the plan was announced. While, in November 2010, the Authority announced that it might be forced to push back the release of its final plan for the river system until early 2012. Less than one month later, Mike Taylor, then Chair of MDBA, announced his decision to resign effective from the end of January 2011. In announcing his resignation, he cited his concerns that the Water Act made it difficult to balance the environmental and socio-economic impacts of cuts to water allocations aimed at rescuing rivers in the basin. Of crucial concern was Taylor's desire to not oversee a process that returned less than 3,000 GL to the basin. Both the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Julia Gillard Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013, holding office as leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). She is the first and only ...

, and the Water Minister,

, rejected Taylor's concerns that the Water Act and the objectives of the Authority were compromised. In May 2011, the

Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists The Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists (in short, the Wentworth Group) is an independent group comprising Australian scientists, economists and business people with conservation interests. The name of the group comes from the venue of their ...

withdrew its support for the Basin Plan, and described the process as seriously flawed and a waste of taxpayers' money. The Wentworth Group said they could not support the Plan which they believed would cost billions and claimed that it would not fix the problems in the river system. The Wentworth Group wanted a minimum 4,000 gigalitres of water returned to the river system but the Group believed that it would not happen under the draft plan.

Water buybacks

In June 2011, a federal parliamentary committee (chaired by independent

Tony Windsor Antony Harold Curties Windsor, (born 2 September 1950) is a former Australian politician. Windsor was an independent member for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Tamworth from 1991 to 2001 − supporting the incumbent Greiner L ...

) delivered its report to MDBA and its recommendations on water cutbacks in the basin. The committee was told river communities faced annihilation if 4,000 gigalitres was returned to the environment. The committee also reported that the health of the river system could be protected without the cuts. The Australian Conservation Foundation said it was disappointed by the report delivered by the inquiry into the Murray–Darling river system. The Foundation believed that buybacks were the most efficient way to save the basin. According to the Wentworth Group, the Commonwealth Government originally planned to start buying the 2,750 gigalitres of water and to increase groundwater extractions by 2,600 gigalitres at the same time in March 2011. Much of the groundwater is linked to river systems, but the Plan does not count it in the models.: In late May 2012, a revision of the plan was forwarded to state water ministers for review. It did not alter the recommendation to return 2,750 gigalitres of water to the environment by cutting water entitlements. Following much negotiation between the Commonwealth and state governments and numerous submissions from interested stakeholders and the community, the Basin Plan finally became law in November 2012.

Royal Commission into compliance with plan

In 2017, after claims that upstream states had not been complying with the Murray–Darling Basin Plan, South Australian Premier

Jay Weatherill Jay Wilson Weatherill (born 3 April 1964) is an Australian politician who was the 45th Premier of South Australia, serving from 21 October 2011 until 19 March 2018. Weatherill represented the House of Assembly seat of Cheltenham as a member of ...

requested that the Federal Government undertake a judicial enquiry or Royal Commission to determine who was to blame for "water theft" and whether upstream states had been complicit. When the Federal Government rejected the request, Weatherill then launched a South Australian Royal Commission in January 2018 to investigate. The

Weatherill Ministry The Weatherill Ministry was the 72nd Ministry of the Government of South Australia, led by Jay Weatherill of the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party. It commenced on 21 October 2011, when Weatherill succeeded Mike Rann as Premie ...

fell in 2019, and then the Federal Government barred Murray Darling Basin Authority officials from giving evidence to the Royal Commission. The Commissioner, Bret Walker SC, also wrote to the new South Australian Attorney-General

Vickie Chapman Vickie Ann Chapman is a former Australian politician, representing the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Bragg for the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia between the 2002 election and May 2022. Chapman served ...

of the Marshall Ministry asking for an extension, but this was rejected. Th
report
into the Royal Commission was released 29 January 2019. Commissioner Walker was damning of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority's administration. He said that the process of setting sustainable limits to water extraction were "major failure of process", and that "The MDBA and the Commonwealth Government of the day can be seen not to have followed the plain requirements of the Water Act." (p24) Subsequently other requests for an inquiry have been made, following mass fish deaths in the Darling River.

References

External links