The Murray Darling Basin Authority was in Griffith on September 11 to discuss what is called the Sustainable Diversion Limit (SDL) Adjustment Mechanism – the tool which can change the amount of water taken from the river. 

Following the meeting, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers candidate Helen Dalton said, “our community was shocked to find out that the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) together with the Liberal Nationals are planning to invoke a provision in Murray Darling Basin Plan (MDBP) that would take an extra 450 gigalitres from the Murray region”.

“This volume equates to about half of Burrinjuck Dam and if taken would have devastating social, economic and environmental impacts on our community.”

Nationals’ State Director Nathan Quigley was quick to hit back. 

“The Shooters know the Nationals are working to keep this water in our local communities, and they know we’ve already threatened to take NSW out of the Basin Plan if Labor goes ahead with their scheme to take this water from irrigators.”

“Yet they continue to support Labor and are working on a backroom preference deal with them as we speak.”

The MDBA deny they are working with any particular political party.

“The Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) is an independent expertise-based statutory agency, responsible for planning the Basin’s water resources, with all planning decisions made in the interest of the Basin as a whole,” a spokesperson said. 

On the Griffith meeting, the spokesperson said, “the MDBA provided advice that the SDL process is expected to result in no further buy backs to meet the Basin Plan water recovery target. The structure of the Basin Plan means that for the full SDL adjustment benefit to be delivered it is necessary for efficiency measures to be delivered across the Basin”. 

Mr Quigley said, “voters should feel confident that Nationals candidate Austin Evans (who is General Manager of Operations with Coleambally Irrigation) has the integrity and the determination needed to deliver real outcomes, not just empty noise, for local irrigators”. 

Ms Dalton said, “if the MDBA and the Liberal Nationals continue to cheat regional NSW communities like this I will campaign to withdraw from the basin plan completely as we are entitled to do”.

“The MDBP has not been able to deliver social, economic and environmental outcomes. It is a triple bottom fail.”