We say the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) must now reveal what it intends to recommend after their recent release of the 2026 ‘What we heard’ report failed to outline the next steps.
VFF Water Council Chair Andrew Leahy said the report accurately reflected the fact that communities hold differing views on issues such as water buybacks, but it fails to answer the most important question.
“Communities didn’t spend months engaging with the MDBA just to receive a summary of what everyone said. They deserve to know what the MDBA intends to recommend to government and we want to hear that now.”
“The report tells us there are differing views on water recovery, climate change and buybacks, but it provides almost no indication of how those competing views will be assessed or what recommendations will ultimately be made,” Mr Leahy said.
The VFF said it was particularly disappointed that the report dedicates two pages to explaining ‘how the feedback will be used’, yet provides little detail about the MDBA’s decision-making process or any opportunity for communities to comment on its recommendations before they are finalised.
“Good consultation doesn’t stop once you’ve listened. It requires the MDBA to come back to Basin communities with draft recommendations, explain why it has reached those conclusions, and allow people to test whether it has genuinely heard them,” Mr Leahy said.
The VFF has consistently called for the Basin Plan Review process to include an additional stage where the MDBA publicly releases draft recommendations, including proposed actions, responsibilities, costs and expected impacts, before submitting its final advice to governments.
The VFF also questioned comments in the report’s foreword suggesting Basin governments agreed to the Basin Plan.
“States agreed to the original Basin Plan framework. They did not agree to the 2023 legislative changes that removed socio-economic considerations from Commonwealth water purchases and effectively transformed the program from recovering 2,750 GL to more than 3,200 GL.”
“Those changes fundamentally altered the policy settings, yet the report largely ignores the significance of those reforms and the impact they have had on Basin communities,” Mr Leahy said.
The VFF welcomed one important area of consensus identified by the MDBA, that governments must maximise environmental outcomes from the water already recovered.
The VFF said the Basin Plan Review represents a once-in-a-decade opportunity to rebuild confidence between governments and Basin communities, but only if the MDBA is prepared to genuinely test its recommendations with those most affected.
“Good consultation doesn’t end with listening. It ends with showing communities what you’re proposing to do and giving them the opportunity to respond,” Mr Leahy concluded.