Summary of Issues for the Murray-Darling Basin Plan Released

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority has now released a summary of issues raised in the 155 submissions to the sustainable diversion limits issues paper.

In November last year, the MDBA released for public comment the Development of sustainable diversion limits for the Murray-Darling Basin issues paper which sets out the proposed process for developing SDLs and explains how they may be expressed in the Basin Plan. Comments on the issues paper from 12 November to 18 December 2009.

Download the summary of the issues paper

In addition, the paper was discussed at two forums organised by the authority in Canberra in December 2009 (the Peak Bodies Forum and the Government and Science Forum), and one with Indigenous communities in the northern Basin also in December 2009. The MDBA received a total of 155 submissions from various stakeholders. These included:

Australian, state and local government agencies;
organisations representing agriculture, horticulture, irrigation, the environment, science and research; and
individuals.

The summary of the issues raised and how the MDBA is considering stakeholders' views in developing the Basin Plan can be downloaded here.

The MDBA has not attempted to respond in detail to the issues raised in the SDL submissions as this is the subject of ongoing work in developing the Basin Plan. However, they do point out in the paper that the MDBA values these inputs to developing the Basin Plan, and has commissioned a detailed technical review of submissions to ensure that key elements and information from the submissions are fully considered and taken into account in the Proposed Basin Plan. All non-confidential submissions are now posted on the MDBA website and can be accessed by clicking here.