We now have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to restore Australia’s lifeblood the Murray-Darling to health. The draft version of a national plan for our rivers – the Murray-Darling Basin Plan – has been released for public review over a twenty weeks period. The plan will be finalised in 2012 after which legislation is likely to be presented to Federal Parliament.
We have a shared interest in protecting and restoring the Murray-Darling – it is the nation’s lifeblood. The best protection for farming, regional and metropolitan communities is to keep the Basin’s lifeblood flowing.
Unfortunately, the proposed volumes of additional water in the draft plan are not likely to go very far in achieving the environmental outcomes necessary for protecting and restoring the Murray-Darling to health. Which is why during the following months, we need to make our voices heard as widely as possible. We need to make sure that the final Murray-Darling Basin Plan which will be put in front of the Australian Parliament for a vote in 2012 returns enough water to make our rivers healthy.
Keep visiting this site for the latest information about the draft Basin Plan and to hear the perspectives of groups and individuals from the bush as well as the city who care about our rivers and want to see them restored to health. Get your friends and community involved by sharing the website on social media.
Public submissions to the draft Murray-Darling Basin Plan closed on April 16. A big thank you to all those who made a submission, making it very clear that the additional volumes of water proposed in the draft Basin Plan fall well short of what is required to make our rivers healthy. We need to continue speaking up for our rivers.