The federal and SA governments are now being accused of working together to nobble the commission, which is examining how the Murray–Darling Basin plan was drafted and implemented. Whether any laws have been – or are being – broken is…
Mal Peters, former director of the National Farmers’ Federation, a highly regarded figure in rural politics, says authority’s ‘direction changed’ when Joyce became agriculture minister. When I started as chair, I had the impression that the MDBA was motivated by finding a…
Karen Middleton When officials were tasked with designing the national plan to manage the flows of the Murray–Darling Basin, they were supposed to use the best available science to calculate how much water would need to be diverted from irrigators’…
This line of inquiry prompts more questions: why is the federal government going to so much trouble – and risking having the High Court rule once and for all that the states can compel the Commonwealth all they like –…
John Clements, a former adviser to the independent MP Tony Windsor, said he had reflected on his experience on the Northern Basin Advisory Committee (NBAC), which ran from 2012 to 2016 and concluded it was used “to rubber-stamp the ambitions…
The former head of water policy in New South Wales, David Harriss, says he was “moved on” from his job after clashing with the water minister, Kevin Humphries, over plans to increase compliance levels among irrigators. Harriss, who worked in…
