MD Basin committee members all live outside the Basin

The Hon Dr

Federal Member for Murray

Sharman Stone MP

Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) Chairman Craig Knowles has stated that ‘local communities will determine the best fit for the (Murray Darling Basin) Plan for local outcomes’.

 

He, the Authority and the Gillard Government have all come under fire for not listening to the concerns of locals in the Murray Electorate, by pushing ahead with a plan for the Basin that has robbed them of income providing irrigation water and now threatens to flood them every 2.5 years artificially.

 

Now, the news is the Murray Darling Basin Authority Advisory Committee on Social, Economic and Environmental Sciences has no representatives from Murray. In fact, not one of them lives in the Murray Darling Basin at all.

 

Federal Member for Murray Dr Sharman Stone says the MDBA has demonstrated a new level of incompetence.

 

“By the MDBA’s own description, ‘the Committee members will be called on to provide strategic advice on science and knowledge to underpin the implementation of an adaptive Basin Plan’. How this can be achieved by outsiders to the Basin is a complete mystery” Dr Stone said.

 

“The Basin Plan consultation period was seen by many locals as a farce. We went from an original sustainable diversion limit (SDL) of water for the environment of 2800GL, down to 2750GL, and now there is a last minute adjustable mechanism to see a rise to 3200GL.

 

“The policy has been driven by the Greens who do not understand catchment management.

 

“Now, we have a committee of people supposedly taking into consideration the social, economic and environmental impacts, even though none of them live in the Basin” Dr Stone said.

 

Sharman Stone, along with one other Member of the Coalition, Michael McCormack, opposed the Plan in an unprecedented attempt to disallow the regulation.

 

“I will not give up on the fight to get a better deal” Sharman Stone said.