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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-11-25 Daily Xml
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MURRAY-DARLING BASIN, CSIRO REPORT

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD (Chaffey—Minister for the River Murray, Minister for Water Security) (14:48): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: Yesterday, the CSIRO released the Water Availability in the Murray-Darling Basin report which summarises the sustainable yield assessments for the 18 regions that comprise the Murray-Darling Basin. Following the November 2006 water summit on the Murray-Darling Basin, the then prime minister, along with state premiers and water ministers, agreed to commission the CSIRO to report progressively on the sustainable yields of the surface and groundwater systems within the basin.

The project represents the most comprehensive hydrologic modelling ever undertaken for the entire Murray-Darling Basin. It has assessed the potential impacts of climate change and other risks on inflows for each catchment in the basin to provide governments with estimates of future water availability. Key findings of the report include: under current development conditions in the Murray-Darling Basin, 48 per cent of the average available water is extracted and used. This is a very high relative level of water use.

Another key finding is that current development along the River Murray has already reduced end-of-system flows by 61 per cent. Climate change is projected to reduce surface water availability in the River Murray in 2030 by 12 per cent, average diversions including irrigation by 4 per cent and end-of-system flows by an additional 24 per cent. The environment will bear a greater impact of any reduction until new sustainable diversion limits are introduced. The report clearly shows that reduced water availability and climate variability are a reality, that the current situation is serious, and that major changes are needed to achieve sustainable extraction limits.

As part of the new agreement between all jurisdictions on a national approach to the system's management, the new Murray-Darling Basin Authority will develop a basin-wide plan that sets new caps on future surface and groundwater use. The CSIRO projections must be used as the basis for setting those new caps on how much water can be extracted from the river system so that all users can have security of water supply into the future.

For irrigators, the projections regarding reduced inflows outline the importance of preparing for drier times when we will all need to use water smarter and do more with less. It is therefore vital that the legislation setting up the new national agreement, first introduced by South Australia and currently before the federal and Victorian parliaments, is passed expeditiously so that we have one basin authority dealing with these crucial matters.

It is clear that the current Murray-Darling Basin situation is dire, and major changes are needed to achieve sustainable extraction limits in the future. This report provides a detailed and rigorous assessment upon which to base future decisions across the basin. Mr Speaker, I table a copy of the report.

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