MEDIA RELEASE

National public water rights and environmental advocacy group, Fair Water Use (Australia), urges the Senate inquiry into the intent of the Water Act, to consider the actual definition of the verbs "ensure" and "optimise",  as applied to the following fundamental objects of the Act:

• to promote the use and management of the Basin water resources in a way that optimises economic, social and environmental outcomes
  

• to ensure the return to environmentally sustainable levels of extraction for water resources that are overallocated or overused                      

Coordinator of Fair Water Use (Australia), Ian Douglas, commented today, “In effect, the Water Act, and therefore the Basin Plan, is obliged to promote the use and management of the Basin water resources in a way that finds the best compromise for the Basin as a whole, whilst guaranteeing the return to environmentally sustainable levels of extraction for water resources that are overallocated or overused, and also protecting, restoring and providing for the ecological values and ecosystem services of the Murray‑Darling Basin”.

“Several experts, including constitutional lawyer, Professor George Williams, have already indicated that they are of the firm opinion that the Act prioritises environmental water requirements,” he continued.

Dr Douglas concluded, “Only by ensuring the environmental health of the Murray-Darling will the social and economic fabric of the Basin be maintained for generations to come”.

On behalf of all Australians who seek to put an end to the longterm degradation of the Murray-Darling river system, Fair Water Use asks - where is the confusion?