Labor’s new Murray-Darling Basin Plan deal entrenches water injustice for First Nations
Retrieved on:
Thursday, August 31, 2023
Pressure, Industry, Murray–Darling basin, Water Act 2007, Culture, Agriculture, River, Water, Hope, Indigenous peoples, David Littleproud, History, Foundation, Government, Murray–Darling Basin Authority, Minister for the Environment and Water (Australia), Nation, First Nations, Terra, Federation, Environment, Health, Cave and Basin National Historic Site, Labour, Oil, Customer service, Renewable energy
The agreement, announced last week, extends the $13 billion 2012 Murray-Darling Basin Plan to rebalance water allocated to the environment, irrigators and other uses.
Key Points:
- The agreement, announced last week, extends the $13 billion 2012 Murray-Darling Basin Plan to rebalance water allocated to the environment, irrigators and other uses.
- negotiated a way to ensure there is secure and reliable water for communities, agriculture, industry, First Nations and the environment.
- Read more:
Murray-Darling Basin Plan to be extended under a new agreement, without Victoria – but an uphill battle lies ahead
Shortchanged in reforms
- It was a historic compromise that sought to address the often conflicting demands of states, irrigators and the environment.
- But the plan overlooked First Nations rights to own, manage and control water on Country.
- The plan’s current provisions include only weak requirements for governments to “have regard to” First Nations values and uses.
- A commitment of $40 million is also a paltry amount in the context of the wider river basin.
Shortchanged in the market
- When Littleproud initially committed the $40 million, the money was equally split between the northern and southern regions of the basin.
- In 2023, buying the same volume of water that could have been purchased in 2018 will cost almost $11 million more.
A fair go: investment and reform needed
- In an overallocated river system, amid water scarcity and rising prices, this requires genuine political will coupled with necessary reforms and adequate funding.
- These deals demonstrate sustained and systemic bipartisan political indifference to First Nations’ inherent rights.
- Funding for cultural flows must be coupled with reform to transform the foundations of water governance and implement the Echuca Declaration.
- Grant Rigney is a citizen of the Ngarrindjeri Nation and Chair of the Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations (MLDRIN).
- Fred is the Chair of the Murrawarri Peoples Council and former Chair of the Northern Basin Aboriginal Nations (NBAN).