VFF submission to the Murray Darling Basin Authority - 16 April, 2012

The VFF does not support the Basin Plan in its current format.

The plan is seeking to return 2750GL of water from current use to the environment. There is no capacity in the plan's structure for water from environmental works and measures and reviews of river operations to be considered towards the reduction from current use. It merely targets water entitlements of irrigators.

The VFF has called for the Basin Plan to provide more flexibility to account for these water savings, and in turn reduce the inequitable burden which has been placed on irrigators.

You can read the VFF submission below.

VFF submission on the proposed Murray Darling Basin Plan (977kb)

Protecting our Murray Darling Basin communities

The Murray Darling Basin Authority has developed a plan that, if left unchallenged, will destroy communities, industries, businesses, farms and families across rural Victoria. A government imposed ‘drought’ will inflict permanent damage on Basin communities.

The Basin Plan outlines the strategy to return an overall volume of 2750GL of water to the Basin system for environmental flows. Contributions of water are imposed on all states within the Murray Darling Basin. Unlike the Guide to the Basin Plan released in 2010, which outlined a single reduction figure from each Basin catchment, a further level of confusion and uncertainty overrides this version with volumes of water split up into ‘local’ and ‘shared’ reductions.

The sum of water required from each of the catchments from Victoria is 650GL. But this is not all that the MDBA is seeking to draw from Victoria. The MDBA has imposed a requirement for a further 971GL of water to come from anywhere in the Southern Basin. This includes Victoria. On the basis of current diversion levels from each of the catchments in the Southern Basin, in excess of another 400GL is likely to be targeted from Victoria.

Victorian high reliability water entitlement has been targeted to date by Commonwealth purchase programs, and the VFF are highly concerned that under the current inclusions in the Basin Plan this trend will only continue. Despite changes to the methodology from what was seen in the Guide, for Victoria, there is minimal change for Victoria. The impacts which were anticipated under the Guide are still as severe.

Members can access a copy of the VFF's recent submissions to the Murray Darling Basin Authority, the House of Representatives Standing Committee, and Senate Rural Affairs and Transport Standing Committee by clicking on the relevant links below.

The VFF's views on the Murray Darling Basin Plan (156kb)

Murray Darling Basin Plan Facts and Figures (165kb)

Murray darling Basin plan water reduction implications for Victoria (624kb)

VFF submission to the Murray Darling Basin Authority (739kb)

Submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Regional Australia: Inquiry into the impact of the Murray Darling Basin Plan (489kb)

Submission to the Senate Rural Affairs and Transport Standing Committee Inquiry into the management of the Murray Darling Basin (478kb)