Murray Darling Basin Authority

Hugh Schuitemaker. The State Government says the Riverland’s wildlife and plant species are seeing benefits of increased environmental water, however, senior local politicians have described the announcement as "misleading" ... Chaffey MP Tim Whetstone said the increased environmental flows were due to high storage volumes and the 2022-23 flood event.

Panel members have now been appointed to lead the independent review into the Wilcannia Weir Replacement Project, marking a significant step forward in the review process. It comes following the NSW Government’s commitment to undertake a review of the Wilcannia proposed weir design.

Riverland-based MLC, and opposition spokesperson for regional South Australia, Nicola Centofanti, has provided the following speech she gave in Parliament regarding concerns for the listing of the Lower Murray as a threatened ecological community as part of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999…

Farmers on the Murrumbidgee River claim they have been kept in the dark about a NSW Government plan to acquire flow easements along the riverfront to accommodate environmental water releases ... The scheme would allow the government to negotiate with landholders to acquire flow easements and, if no agreement can be reached, the water minister can decide to proceed with compulsory acquisition of the flow corridors "on just terms".

Senior Riverland politicians have urged local irrigators to avoid signing up for the Federal Government’s latest expression of interest for water buybacks. The Federal Government last week opened the Restoring Our Rivers 2024: Expression of Interest 2 (Large Portfolios of Water Southern Connected Basin), allowing for water buybacks from Riverland communities.

Sophie Baldwin. Roger Reid thought he was doing the right thing when he made the decision to invest some big dollars into water efficiency projects on his mixed farming property in the Riverina. However, Roger has been left scratching his head and questioning his decision this season, after the Bullatale Creek was reduced to water holes and he couldn’t access water.

Sebastian Calderon. An innovative project based in the Riverland is aiming to improve the potential use and benefits of groundwater. Last month, a small reverse-osmosis (RO) plant was installed on Century Orchards, in Loxton, with the objective of identifying different pathways to diversify water sources and relieve resource pressure on the Murray River.

The Federal Government is again being called out for rushing through risky and untested reforms that seek to gain more power for themselves, prior to the upcoming election. Consultation soon closes on their recent grab, to list two new areas as "endangered" under national environment law, replicating a controversial and subsequently, disallowed move by the former Labor Government in 2013.