With the nation’s most important river system on the line, it is crucial that we get the Murray Darling Basin Plan right and therefore more needs to be done to strengthen the environmental protections of the Water Act, the Australian Greens said today.
“I will be moving to amend the Water Act tomorrow to create the environmental protections that are lacking from the current Basin Plan, and that the river so desperately needs to survive,” the Greens’ Murray Darling spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“It is so important that we get this right because the Plan will act as a blueprint for how we manage the Murray Darling system for the next 20 years.
“The Greens amendments would ensure that the Plan must take into account climate change and take a precautionary approach to any extra water use, including groundwater extraction which is a deeply concerning unknown factor.
“Without these amendments there is no guarantee that the Plan will be implemented in a way that will save our nation’s most important river system and it will not be based on the best available science.
“By sending the Plan back to the Minister so that it can be fixed, we are listening to the concerns of scientists and environmental groups who say the current Plan simply locks in failure.
“Unless we strengthen the Water Act, the Plan is doomed to fail the river and the future of South Australia’s water supply.”
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