Local wisdom ignored again

Murray Group of Concerned Communities chair Bruce Simpson says locals are ‘‘at the end of our tether in terms of [university] boffins determining our destiny’’.

Murray Group of Concerned Communities chair Bruce Simpson has slammed the government for ignoring ‘‘local wisdom’’ and turning to city-based professors for advice on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

He says locals are ‘‘at the end of our tether in terms of [university] boffins determining our destiny’’.

Federal Shadow Water Minister Barnaby Joyce announced on Wednesday that the Murray-Darling Basin Authority Advisory Committee on Social, Economic and Environmental Sciences does not have a committee member actually from the basin.

Of the six people on the committee, only one — Professor Kate Auty — has a basin connection, having served as senior regional magistrate for the Magistrates’ Courts in north east Victoria.

The others are reportedly from Canberra and Brisbane.

Mr Joyce said Murray-Darling Basin Authority chair Craig Knowles stated himself last October that ‘‘local communities will determine the best fit for the basin plan for local outcomes’’.

‘‘Labor has to reconfigure this committee with genuine basin community locals or it will be deemed to be a committee of highly paid, well-intentioned, highly educated hippies sent over the range to make our lives a misery,’’ he said.

Mr Simpson said he ‘‘totally agrees’’. He criticised the government for only valuing university degrees.

‘‘I don’t know if anyone from the regions would have gone to the effort of putting an expression of interest in,’’ he said.

‘‘You had to have a reasonably technical background, whether it be in economic or social science.

‘‘Governments need to accept that you don’t have to have a ‘professor’ before your name or a ‘doctor’.

‘‘You can have a life of experience that is just as valuable.

‘‘The view is that the only way to have wisdom and knowledge is by way of a university degree.

‘‘That is where the world has gone wrong.

‘‘The wisdom and knowledge of our communities needs to be recognised for the value that it is.’’

Mr Simpson said he would be concerned if the committee was made up of ‘‘boffins’’.

‘‘They’re people that are arguably imbalanced in their view, and they’re singular in their view, they’re not collective in their understanding of the issues,’’ he said.

‘‘The whole process needs to ensure that there is an ongoing connection to the community.

‘‘At the end of the day where the impact’s going to be felt is the community.’’

Federal Water Minister Tony Burke signed the Murray-Darling Basin Plan into law last month. The plan will divert 2750 gigalitres (GL) of productive water to the environment.

Legislation to recover another 450GL has passed the House of Representatives, and is expected to pass the Senate next year.