REPRESENTATIVES from 100 local governments on the Murray Darling Basin presented a Declaration of Concern to Federal Ministers and other concerned politicians during a special forum at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday.
In their combined Declaration, the Murray River Group of Councils, from NSW, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia, have urged the Federal Government to adopt a balanced approach to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan’s development.
“We ask that the same consideration being given to the environment is applied to the social and economic impacts that any proposed changes would have on our families and communities, as these are equally important environments that need to be protected,” the Declaration said.
The councils want government assurance their various concerns will be addressed, including the identification and inclusion in the proposed plan of social and economic impacts for regional communities arising from any Sustainable Diversion Limits.
They also want the government to acknowledge the impact of the Plan’s implementation, by providing stronger support services, to help regional communities deal with any likely distress.
They are also wanting assistance with irrigation infrastructure improvements and a strategic approach to water buyback schemes so any remaining farmers are not disadvantaged.
Water Minister, Tony Burke, Regional Australia Minister, Simon Crean, Federal Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, Independent MP, Tony Windsor, Shadow Environment Minister, Greg Hunt, and Greens Water Spokesperson Senator, Sarah Hanson Young, all spoke at the forum and received the Declaration of Concern.
Nationals Leader, Warren Truss, and Shadow Water Minister, Barnaby Joyce, also attended, along with other parliamentary representatives.
Greater Shepparton City Council Mayor, Geoff Dobson, spoke to Rural Press after the event and said it was a resounding success.
Mr Dobson said the Declaration of Concern, a joint communiqué from the 100 municipalities throughout the Basin, would now be forwarded to the Prime Minister and other relevant politicians.
“There are 2.1 million people who will be affected by this decision and by the government in due course,” he said.
“We believe the local governments have a big role to play; that we can make some input into it.
“Forget about all of the burning of the books and that kind of stuff; we are here to be on a government to government level so we can ensure a good partnership arrangement and get the job done properly.
“We got together and invited all the municipalities right throughout the Murray-Darling Basin to come and voice their concerns to both the government and opposition today.
“But this is not about the Authority making a decision; it’s about the Parliament making a decision, at the end of the day.
“Both sides of the House have now got a firm and clear understanding of where the Murray-Darling Basin councils sit on this.”
Mr Dobson said while the environment was important, the social and economic outcomes of the Basin Plan “have to be addressed”.
He said Mr Burke, Mr Abbott and Mr Hunt all said the same thing about getting a triple bottom-line outcome in the Basin Plan and that the environment was “not the only issue we have to address.”
Mr Dobson said his group would also meet with the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to push their message.
“They must also understand where we are coming from,” he said.
“But we are giving everybody the same message, that we need a triple bottom-line approach.”
Currently, the Basin Plan is scheduled to be completed in early 2012.
Mr Dobson said if that deadline needed to be delayed to ensure the right outcome, he supported another deadline extension.
“I haven’t got a personal deadline on it except to say at the end of the day the report has to be fully inclusive,” he said.
“It has to be practically based, it has to be scientifically based, and it has got to be technically based so that all the different bits come into play.
“How you deliver environmental water, how you look at infrastructure to make farming more efficient than what it is now, that can be done, but I don’t think timing is the main issue.
“This is so important - this is for the next 50 years.
“A couple of months here and there, six months, 12 months, given that a lot of our people want a result, I think we just have to be careful how the whole thing is structured at the end of the day.”
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