Basin Plan Review Submissions

Basin Plan Review Submissions

Make Your Voice Heard: Basin Plan Review Submissions Now Open

The Murray–Darling Basin Authority has released its Basin Plan Review Discussion Paper  and this is one of the most important moments for our region in over a decade.

View the report

As we reach the conclusion of Basin Plan 1, the Commonwealth Government is preparing to rewrite legislation and shape Basin Plan 2 from 2027.

The decisions made now will directly impact:

  • Water availability for farms and businesses
  • The future of irrigated agriculture
  • Jobs across regional communities
  • Australia’s food production and security
Why This Matters for Northern Victoria
  • Northern Victoria is one of Australia’s most important food producing regions. Across the Basin It has the largest agricultural value add at $6.6 billion and highest food manufacturing output at $9 billion.
  • Yet too often, decisions about water policy are made far from the communities that live with the consequences focussing on the environment and forgetting about people.
  • This review is your opportunity to ensure:
    • Real lived experience is heard
    • The impacts of water recovery are properly understood
    • Future policy supports both food production and regional communities
If we don’t speak up, decisions will be made without us.
We Need a Strong Victorian Voice

Victoria plays a critical role in the Basin, but we are also one of the regions most exposed to further water recovery, due to the attractiveness of our high reliability water shares.

It is essential that:
  • The economic and social impacts of past reforms are recognised
  • Further water buybacks cease as they do not improve environmental outcomes beyond the water they already have.
  • Future policy focuses on practical environmental outcomes, not just water volumes
A strong, united response from farmers, businesses and rural communities will make a difference.
Resources

How You Can Help

The Victorian Farmers Federation has prepared a simple template submission to make it easy for you to have your say. All you need to do:

  1. Download the template
  2. Add your personal details and lived experience
  3. Refer to the larger VFF submission if you like for more detailed information.
  4. Submit it to the MDBA by May 1st BPRsubmissions@mdba.gov.au

Your story matters. Your experience matters.

Download VFF Submission Template

What Should You Include?
Your submission doesn’t need to be complicated.

Focus on:

  • Your connection to the Basin
  • Why water is important to your business or community
  • The real impacts you’ve seen from the Basin Plan
  • What you want to see change in the future
  • The more real and personal your submission is, the stronger it will be.

Northern Victoria cannot afford to be overlooked.

Have Your Say Today
Submissions are now open and close on 1st May 2026.

Use the template, tell your story, and make sure Northern Victoria is heard.

Because decisions made in Canberra should reflect the reality on the ground.

Example: Feel free to copy, paste and update.

I have always lived in Northern Victoria and am a 3rd generation dairy farmer. Water is critical to our business to grow pasture for our 400 cow herd. Dairy is very important to Northern Victoria given the large number of jobs involved at dairy processors and its related industries. A decline in milk production results in less jobs.
Example: Feel free to copy, paste and update.

The Basin Plan has driven up the price of temporary water, I can only afford to spend $250 per megalitre and I need to purchase half my water requirements on the temporary water market. Given the amount of water on the temporary market has declined since the Basin Plan’s introduction, I am very worried what this means long term if the Commonwealth continues to buyback even more water. I worry about the water charges set by the water authority as there is less farmers to spread the costs of the irrigation network across. The Basin Plan has had a big impact on my community, less water, means less people in my town which has seen less kids in schools and less people participating in my local sporting clubs.