Unknown wonders: Barmah-Millewa forest
Australia is famous for its natural beauty: the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, Kakadu, the Kimberley. But what about the places almost no one goes? We asked ecologists, biologists and wildlife researchers…
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Murray Darling
Analysis and Comment (34)
Australia is not ready for the next big dry
Three years ago in March 2010, southeast Australia was still in the grip of “the big dry” or the “millennium drought” – billed as the worst drought since European settlement. Dams across the Murray-Darling…
Australian endangered species: Murray Cod
The Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii) is the largest native Australian freshwater fish species, and is probably the most iconic.
The species’ credentials are impressive: it can live for more than 50…
Basin Plan is historic but let’s not lose the whole story
Reaching agreement on a Murray-Darling Basin Plan is undoubtedly a significant political accomplishment. The water resources of the Murray-Darling have been the basis of disagreement between states, industries…
Watch the water – keeping an eye on the Murray-Darling
Will the Murray-Darling Basin Plan put an end to a century of squabbling? It’s unlikely. There are already those who suggest the water going back to the river isn’t enough, the rivers need more. And of…
Finally: Murray-Darling Basin Plan signed into law
Yesterday, Minister for the Environment Tony Burke signed the Murray-Darling Basin Plan into law, after the Murray-Darling Basin Authority had made the final changes he requested.
One hurdle remains…
Murray-Darling: why Australia needs intergovernmental cooperation
On Friday, the Prime Minister announced that the Commonwealth will spend $1.7 billion to increase water return to the Murray-Darling River by a further 450 gigalitres. The announcement is a big win for…
Murray-Darling proposal brings us closer to shared understanding
Sharing water between different groups in society is almost inevitably a very contentious issue. Throughout the world, there are daily conflicts between people about how water can be used; at an individual…
Micro-managing the Murray-Darling Basin: what’s in it for fish?
This is part two of a series investigating the effect Murray-Darling water policy has on acquatic life. It’s told from the perspective of the new water minister, a Murray Cod called Mac Peelii, who last…
Murray-Darling: keeping government out of the bedroom and taxpayers out of farming
A common catchcry used to bemoan any proclivity of the state to reach into individual decision-making is “keep government out of the bedroom”. The equivalent mantra for economists involved in analysing…
More flooding in the Murray-Darling basin could be good news for farmers
The history of our development of the Murray-Darling Basin is one of constraining and constricting its rivers’ flows. Many of the basin’s floods are now captured in dams for later constrained release to…
Looking at the Murray Darling through a native fish-eye lens
Let’s imagine for a minute that a Murray cod – let’s call him Mac Peelii – replaced Tony Burke as water minister, responsible for the Murray-Darling Basin. Apart from the obvious issues associated with…
Resisting the Murray-Darling Basin Plan – in whose interest?
As the final version of the Murray-Darling Plan heads to Parliament there seems little doubt that the debate will continue. The sticking point remains the volume of water to be returned to the environment…
Is anyone really listening? The Murray Darling and the limits to community consultation
On 28 May 2012 the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) handed down its long awaited revised blueprint to restore health to the Murray Darling Basin.
The plan was the result of a 20-week community engagement…
Lies, dam lies and water plans: the MDB Plan and the states
When the water planning process for the Murray-Darling Basin first commenced, an experienced colleague of mine noted that this was shaping up to be a lying contest between farmers and environmentalists…
Coorong recovery begins, but still room for improvement
The proposed Murray-Darling Basin Plan has been one of the most controversial pieces of public policy in Australia’s recent history. There has been the predictable divide between irrigators calling for…
Living in the lower lakes: a human experience of environmental catastrophe
The proposed Murray-Darling Basin Plan has been one of the most controversial pieces of public policy in Australia’s recent history. There has been the predictable divide between irrigators calling for…
Why we will make mistakes managing the Murray-Darling, and why that’s OK
The proposed Murray-Darling Basin Plan has been one of the most controversial pieces of public policy in Australia’s recent history. There has been the predictable divide between irrigators calling for…
Regulating the flow is more complicated than it looks
The proposed Murray-Darling Basin Plan has been one of the most controversial pieces of public policy in Australia’s recent history. There has been the predictable divide between irrigators calling for…
Aqua nullius: the upper Murrumbidgee River
The proposed Murray-Darling Basin Plan has been one of the most controversial pieces of public policy in Australia’s recent history. There has been the predictable divide between irrigators calling for…
Science’s stagnant thinking: our rivers need a revolution
I’ve been away in the UK for a few years – and what do I find when I come back? In the Murray Darling we are still arguing over inputs (the amount of water to be returned to the river) instead of focusing…
Complex but rewarding: putting a value on the Murray-Darling plan
One of the big challenges around the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s Proposed Basin Plan is to work out just how much the basin’s environment would benefit from the plan.
When the Guide to the proposed…
Wicked problems demand adaptive responses: how does the Murray Darling plan stack up?
Since the MDBA (the Authority) released the long awaited Plan for the Murray-Darling Basin, the response has been both predictable and somewhat muted. Most predictable have been calls for certainty, based…
The science behind the Murray-Darling Basin plan
CSIRO, like many other research institutions, has helped provide research, models and data to inform the development of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
But the proposed Basin Plan, which was released on…
What happens when there’s no water? How the Murray-Darling plan might affect communities
When the Murray Darling Basin Authority commissioned me in 2011 to examine the social impacts on the Lower Murray and Lakes communities of low flows and drought, I was confronted with irrigation farmers…
The best thing about the Murray-Darling plan? It’s a work in progress
Yesterday’s release of the proposed Basin Plan for managing the Murray-Darling represents a significant step towards managing one of Australia’s greatest natural assets. The key to the plan’s success will…
Will the Murray-Darling plan do enough for the environment? The truth is, we don’t know
The release of the Draft Murray-Darling Basin plan earlier today, and the announcement that 2,750 gigalitres would be returned to the environment, was followed by predictable outrage. Irrigators said that…
Water we waiting for? The unfinished business of water reform
The National Water Commission released its Third Biennial Assessment of the 2004 National Water Initiative (NWI) in September.
The NWI is an agreement between all state and territory governments and federal…
Drought, flooding rains and the numbers game: setting limits for the Murray Darling Basin
The Murray Darling Basin Authority is about to release a Draft Plan for the management of the Murray Darling Basins water resources.
As with all plans, there will be devil in the detail, especially in…
Inquiry slams ‘Swiss cheese effect’ in the Murray-Darling Basin
The Windsor Inquiry has handed down its report on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. It recommends a halt to water buybacks, more investment in irrigation efficiency and a new governance model for the Basin…
Can the Murray Darling once again lead the world in water management?
Almost every major river basin in the world is significantly impacted by humans. The situation in the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) is certainly not unique.
In river basins all over the world, communities…
What’s the science behind revised Murray-Darling environmental flows?
The past few days has shown that the issue of water reform in the Murray-Darling Basin is “back on the boil”. The current discussion is about what evidence is credible and how “evidence” is used to support…
Murray Darling Basin can feed the nation if we just get it right
Reports of the death of the Murray Darling Basin food bowl are grossly exaggerated, to borrow a phrase from Mark Twain.
Farmers have been up in arms about plans to give more water to the environment…
Government myopic on Murray Darling’s complex needs
The controversy over the Murray Darling Basin Guide centres on the need to strike a balance between the social, economic and environmental uses of water.
The difficulties in undertaking this task are…
Research and News (1)
Murray-Darling authority’s revised plan: expert reactions
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) today released a revised plan that recommends cutting the volume of groundwater…
Research Briefs (1)
How will climate change affect the southern Murray-Darling Basin?
Water management practices may have more of an effect on fish populations in the Southern Murray-Darling Basin than climate…
Participants (55)
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Caroline Sullivan
Director of Research, School of Environment, Science and Engineering
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Quentin Grafton
Director of the Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy
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John Storer
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Timothy Curtin
Economic adviser
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Snow Barlow
Foundation Professor of Horticulture and Viticulture
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Philip Wallis
Research Fellow, Monash Sustainability Institute
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Hector Malano
Professor of Water Resources Management
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Brian Davidson
Senior Lecturer, Department of Agriculture and Food Systems
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Mike Young
Executive Director, The Environment Institute
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Jim McColl
Research Fellow
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Jonathan Sobels
Lecturer, Human Geography
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Bill Young
Director, Water for a Healthy Country Flagship
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Gideon Polya
Sessional Lecturer in Biochemistry for Agricultural Science
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Richard Kingsford
Professor, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences
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Helen Hasan
Associate Professor in Information Systems
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Ian Prosser
Science Director, Water for a Healthy Country Flagship
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Chris Mawer
Scribe
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Graham Harris
Prof Fellow, SMART Infrastructure Facility
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Susan Myers
Project Manager
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Robert Newman
Principal Catchment Management Consulting
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Joseph Bernard
Director
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Geoff Russell
Computer Programmer, Author
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Norm stone
Project Manager
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Lin Crase
Professor of Applied Economics
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Norm Stone
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Andrew Gregson
CEO, NSW Irrigators Council
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David Briggs
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Narelle Miragliotta
Lecturer in Australian politics
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Paul Humphries
Senior lecturer in Ecology
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Rebecca Lester
Lecturer, School of Life and Environmental Sciences
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Peter R. Smith OAM
Retired
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Bernie Masters
environmental consultant
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Paul Wittwer
Orchardist
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Susan Lawler
Head of Department, Department of Environmental Management & Ecology
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Debbie Hoad
student
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Anthony Farrugia
Builder
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John Troughton
ANU Alumni
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Jamie Pittock
Director, International Programs, UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance
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Not Likely
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Kate Finlay
Clerical Assistant
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Spiro Vlachos
AL
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Peter Ormonde
Farmer
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Shipra Chordia
Director of the Federalism Project, Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law
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Fran Sheldon
Associate Professor, Griffith School of Environment and Australian Rivers Institute
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Daniel Tan
Senior Lecturer in Agriculture
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Nev Norton
Farmer
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David Hamer
student
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Tim Connors
System Administrator
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Nick McKenzie
Account Manager
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Albert Van Dijk
Professor of Water Science and Management, Fenner School of Environment & Society
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Ron Chinchen
Retired (ex Probation and Parole Officer)
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Kym Afford
Population activist
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Peter Bysouth
Semi-Retired
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Murray Webster
Forestry-Ecology Consultant/Contractor
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Peter Farrell
teaching-principal