A new ACCC report has identified major weaknesses in the water market, but recommends more of the same, reports Tracey Carpenter.
Murray-Darling Basin Authority
"Cry Me a River", the March 2020 Quarterly Essay by Margaret Simons, charts the course of the Darling River and its historic demise from an inland paddle steamer route to a broken chain of algal ponds of recent years, writes Tracey Carpenter.
The federal government reached an agreement with the Labor opposition to pass amendments to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan (MDBP) on May 8, effectively ensuring less water will flow to the environment in the southern basin.
The deal sidelined negotiations with cross-bench Senators and scuttled a move by the Greens to request a disallowance motion for the vote because of environmental concerns.
A recent expose by the ABC’s Four Corners has alleged significant illegal extraction of water from the Barwon-Darling river system, one of the major tributaries of the Murray River.
Strike action is continuing across the federal public service as staff campaign for fair pay and conditions against the Abbott government's harsh attack on wages, jobs and rights. Most recently, public servants at the Murray-Darling Basin Authority have voted to strike, joining their colleagues at copyright agency IP Australia who voted in the first week of July to take industrial action.