At its May council meeting, councillors discussed the document, which was submitted to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority in early May.
The authority received over 2400 submissions to the 2026 Basin Plan Review, which will form part of the final basin plan to be passed on to the Federal Government by the end of the year.
The submission focuses heavily on how basin plan water recovery has devastated local families, farmers and businesses throughout the shire.
The document details the long-term effects on irrigation-dependent towns such as Rochester and Tongala, where major dairy processing plants have shut down, stripping away crucial local employment.
As a result of this, in this submission council has called for the basin review to place greater weight on “local, place-based social and economic assessments”, to ensure remaining recovery is equitable and transparent.
Cr John Zobec said the shire’s dairy industry was “on its knees” and said Victoria specifically was the heavy carrier of water buybacks.
Council demanded greater certainty in water policy, arguing that ongoing uncertainty about future water recovery requirements was destroying local business confidence.
Cr Paul Jarman spoke to the importance of Campaspe having a seat at the table for discussions about the basin plan.
“The lack of socio-economic understandings, and the ramifications it has on communities in rural Australia ... are not insignificant — they have a real impact,” he said.
“Looking through the economic development papers over the last couple of years in development — the stability and clarity around water in Campaspe Shire is absolutely crucial.”
Cr Adrian Weston spoke about fixing the quality of the water, rather than continuing substantive recovery.
He cited past discussions about releasing carp herpesvirus to dramatically reduce the population of European carp species.
He said he believed it was one of the few areas the submission was lacking, but it had been addressed with the authorities previously.
“I think going forward, it shouldn’t be about further water recovery — it should be about what else we can do to get the best value out of that water,” Cr Weston said.
“Whether it’s carp or horses in the high country — that impact on water quality ... are all things that we should focus on now to get better ecological outcomes.”
Finally, Cr Rob Amos called on Federal Environment and Water Minister Murray Watt to seriously consider the submissions as “more than just a volume of water”, but as the representatives of the community as a whole.
To read Campaspe Shire Council’s full submission, head to council’s website and read it in the May council meeting agenda.
