Tag Archive for 'environmental flow'

“Early next year the Water Minister is expected to take a final blueprint for reforming the basin to parliament. That plan will need to return more water back to the environment while not threatening the livelihood of irrigation strongholds up and down the sprawling river network.
 
” If Burke’s experience in the portfolio to date is any indication of what he will face this year, it is unsurprising he is so quick to label this his greatest political test — one he tells Inquirer he is walking into without delusion.

“After holding the agriculture portfolio in the Rudd government, Burke had just been appointed Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities when an almighty furore erupted over the release of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s first draft guidelines on how to rescue the river system.

“The furious response to that guide, which proposed that the federal government buy back between 27 per cent and 37 per cent of water entitlements across the basin, has dominated the minister’s past six months and sparked three parliamentary inquiries into how environmental demands can be balanced against the needs of regional communities.”
Read more: The Australian