Meetings and events

The Murray–Darling Basin Authority has been working closely with communities, community leaders and peak stakeholder groups over the past year to develop the draft Basin Plan. These meetings are helping us create a better Basin Plan.

In addition, we have spent a lot of time with our state partners working through the draft Basin Plan, developing solutions to issues and clarifying roles and responsibilities. A formal group of all the Basin states has been established to facilitate these conversations.

Upcoming meetings

Building on the many meetings we have held over the past few months we are continuing to meet with communities to discuss the draft Basin Plan. We will continue to hold more meetings leading up to the end of the formal consultation period on 16 April 2012.

Working with community representatives, we have confirmed the following dates and locations for further public meetings: 

Cobram
Tuesday 21 February 2012
Open House  - public welcome - officers from MDBA and Commonwealth Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities will be available to talk to you.
10:00 to 11:30am
Cobram Civic Centre Hall
Punt Road

Kerang
Tuesday 21 February 2012
Open House – public welcome- officers from MDBA and Commonwealth Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities will be available to talk to you.
2:00 to 3:30pm
Kerang Memorial Hall
2 Nolan St

Swan Hill
Wednesday, 22 February, 1-4pm
Swan Hill Church of Christ
The Grain Shed
2-8 King Street
Swan Hill VIC 3585

Bendigo
Monday 27th February, 12 noon–1:30pm
All Seasons Hotel
171–183 McIvor Road,
Bendigo VIC
Open-house - public welcome - drop in session
Staff, Authority members and other government departments will be available to talk to you.

Renmark
Friday 9 March 2012
1-4pm
Greek Orthodox Community Hall
Twentyfirst St, Renmark

Open houses are currently being organised for Albury (7 March), Wangaratta (8 March), Echuca (15 March), Deniliquin (15 March), Hay, Dubbo and Forbes  - further details will be provided shortly.

People are invited to attend any of the above meetings to have their say and find out more about the draft Basin Plan.

Indigenous Meetings

Here is a list of towns we will be visiting to meet with Indigenous communities. Local Indigenous people will be putting the word out about our visit and where you can find us.

Recent Meetings

Mildura Round Table Meetings 12th January

On Thursday 12 January 2012 the MDBA held two ‘round table’ meetings with key stakeholder groups and individuals from the Mildura area. Participants were from a wide range of backgrounds; agricultural boards and organisations, water providers, irrigation organisations and individuals, Victorian Basin Plan Advisory group members, Catchment Management Authorities, Council, Mildura Development Corporation, researchers and environmental groups.

A number of issues were discussed including the fact that there will not be compulsory acquisition of water entitlements.

People at the meetings raised concerns about the potential socio-economic impacts of the draft Basin Plan and stressed that while all understood the need for a balance between the environment and economies, communities are not prepared to be damaged.  The proposition to have a review in 2015 was explained whereby Sustainable Diversion Limits will be revisited to reflect any water saving initiatives and/or improved estimates of environmental watering needs.
A number of views were expressed on this review with some concern being that much of the infrastructure and rules review work that is currently underway, or planned, will not be evaluated in time. Concerns were expressed by some participants that the Basin Plan and its subsequent implementation is very political and will not necessarily achieve the best outcome and that there will be conflicting objectives between the Basin States.

Localism, implementation of environmental works and measures, irrigation infrastructure and adaptive management were discussed with concerns raised about how this may be implemented within communities and how this may impact on sustainable diversion limits and irrigation communities. Groundwater was discussed, in particular that some groundwater areas do not currently have water resource plans and what will happen with unassigned water. It was noted that the draft Basin Plan will assign caps for these areas. Downstream environmental water requirements were discussed, in particular how these will be assigned and whether some of the current infrastructure projects will be taken into account.

Some people were concerned about the Commonwealth water buy-back and its impact on temporary water trade in the region. There were a number of views expressed with some supportive of the current buy-back moratorium in the southern Basin while others requested a substantial buy-back program with irrigators provided the opportunity to sell water if they wished. Salinity targets within the draft Basin Plan were questioned and requested to be reviewed and/or amended for local circumstances.

The meetings also took the opportunity to discuss a potential date and format for a public meeting in Mildura on 10 February 2012. This is being organised in conjunction with the relevant Councils and peak stakeholder groups.

Narrabri 21 December 2011
The MDBA met with representatives from Namoi Water and Namoi Regional Organisation of Councils Water Working Group in Narrabri on 21 December 2011.
Key issues discussed included:

• MDBA modelling figures compared with Namoi Catchment Water Sharing Plan
• Menindee Lakes
• Development of Sustainable Diversion Limits and opportunities for the review/change
• Prioritisation, monitoring and evaluation of environmental assets
• Coal seam gas and potential water quality impacts