The Hon Tony Burke MP

Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities

Parliament House

Canberra

Dear Mr Burke,

On behalf of the hundreds of members of national public water rights and environmental advocacy group, Fair Water Use, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your recent appointment.

FWU has been in regular correspondence with your predecessor, Senator Wong, on a range of issues surrounding the governance and management of the nation’s water, especially that of the Murray-Darling Basin.

We are sure you will appreciate that, despite the welcome rainfall of recent months, unless the much-anticipated Basin Plan is founded on the statutory requirement, restated earlier this year by the Chairman of the MDBA, that the Authority is obliged to place the environmental health of the Murray-Darling above all other considerations, it will merely be a matter of time before the river system returns to its recent parlous condition.

We also appreciate that you will be exposed to extreme pressure from sectors seeking to continue to overexploit the water of the Murray-Darling, ignoring the fact that only a healthy river system can provide longterm services to all those who depend upon it.

In that regard, I refer you to one of several authoritative papers which indicate that a working river will progressively degrade if its outflows to the sea are reduced by more than 33% below natural flows¹.

Sadly, diversions from the rivers and streams of the Murray-Darling Basin have grown to around 80% of the volume that used to flow out of the mouth of the Murray River².

The debate regarding sustainable diversion limits is complex. As responsible Minister, we are hopeful that you will appreciate the fundamental importance of maintaining outflows at levels which will turn around the ongoing degradation of Australia’s most significant river system, for the sake of the environment of the Basin - and the communities which depend upon it.

I would be delighted to discuss these and other relevant matters with you at any time.

Yours sincerely,

(Signed)

Ian Douglas 

References:

¹ Murray-Darling Basin Commission (2002). Environmental Flows for the River Murray: Report on the development of options. Prepared for the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council, April 2002

² Atlas of Australian Natural Resources, 2009