Countdown to Basin plan

In an alert yesterday, the MDBA said Monday’s release marks the launch of 20 weeks formal public consultation where people can read the draft plan, discuss it with their community and the Authority and provide feedback through its formal submission process.

The official closing date for submissions will be April 16, 2012.

“Many people told us they don't want to have meetings immediately after the draft plan is available, so we are starting our meetings the week after the draft goes out,” the communiqué said.

The first round of open public meetings from up to December 16 are scheduled for areas targeted with higher water recovery requirements, as part of the Authority’s 2800 gigalitre minimum target for Sustainable Diversion Limits; or water that’s being re-directed in the draft plan for environmental purposes throughout the river system.

After the St George meeting on December 7, similar events be held in Murray Bridge (9 December), Shepparton (13 December), Griffith (15 December) and Deniliquin (16 December).

The Authority says alongside its public meetings, smaller forums with community and representative groups in those towns and others will also be held.

The consultation process will re-start after Australia Day next year, with the Authority saying it added an extra four weeks to the 20 week consultation period to allow for the Christmas new-year break.

The consultation will re-start with public forums in Goondiwindi, Mildura, Renmark and Swan Hill, with smaller meetings also being held to encourage “detailed conversations” in those towns and other locations like Hay, Albury, Wodonga, and Narrabri.

“We are keen to talk to anyone who is interested and will schedule meetings as needed,” the Authoirty said.

“As we do schedule more public meetings those details will go up on our website.”

On Monday the Authority will release the draft Basin Plan and several supporting documents, including a plain English guide which is a requirement of the Water Act, while other documents will follow during the weeks ahead.

Speaking to Rural Press earlier this week, MDBA Chairman, Craig Knowles, said catchments in the southern Riverina that are facing potentially 50 percent water cuts on traditional volumes, would need to think through “how they prosecute the case to have a bias towards investment in infrastructure, for the remaining amounts of water to be retained”.

Mr Knowles said the draft plan would be fundamentally better than the Guide released in October last year, because communities have be afforded an opportunity to engage in water saving programs up to 2019 and reduce target SDL’s over time.

But he said that doesn’t mean people will necessarily be happy with the various numbers proposed.

He said some people in the worst affected communities say one litre out of the system is one litre too much.

But at the other end of the spectrum others say anything less than 4000 gigalitres won’t be enough.

“There’s no single number that will make anyone happy but equally there’s no single number that’s going to fix the system and bring it into that healthy working balance that we strive for,” he said.

The Authority has also gone to great lengths to avoid making a dramatic fuss, in the lead up to Monday’s release of the draft Basin Plan.

The Authority plans to hold a press conference at an arranged location in Canberra on Monday, where the Chairman will make a brief speech, journalists will then ask questions and information will be distributed and posted on the MDBA website.

That approach will be in stark contrast to the monumental stage prepared for the Guide draft plan’s release on October 8, 2010, which promised an earth shattering change but delivered vexation and chaos.

Confidentiality forms were signed and mobile phones handed in during a Friday after-noon lock-down where a cavalcade of media and basin stakeholder groups were kept in separate rooms, until after the market-sensitive information was released.

This time however, the draft legislative instrument’s release will be accompanied by less fanfare.

Included with the draft document will be a plain English guide and a catchment by catchment break-down, highlighting the particular watering needs of each Basin catchment.

The environmental water plans for each catchment will also be communicated through an interactive tool on the MDBA website, where people can click and move through each step clearly, instead of reading it in a book, however the book will also be made available.

Summary of documents being released on Monday by the MDBA.