Australia’s ‘fruitbowl’, the Murray-Darling river basin, will come under federal government control with a bill likely to pass through parliament this week, following a supporting vote from the country’s opposition party.
The drought-ravaged Murray-Darling has until now been managed by a number of the state and territory governments the river system passes through, leading to inconsistent water allocations for growers in the region and a lack of decisive action on falling water levels.
The opposition party had previously rejected the government’s water bill, which gives it control over the Murray-Darling, but “reluctantly” changed its tune late last night, according to The Age.
Federal Water Minister Penny Wong said the water bill is good news for the river system.
“This is the first time in our nation’s history that we’ll be able to manage this basin as a whole,” she said.
The opposition party’s only sticking point was the bill’s failure to block a planned Victorian pipeline from the river system to the state’s capital of Melbourne, moving 75bn litres of water a year.
“We were given a dry, if not desiccated, choice given it’s critical to have national management of the basin,” commented opposition Liberal senator Mary Jo Fisher.
