The Goulburn Broken CMA and the Victorian Government have both produced reports with recommendations on how to tackle the issue.
The latest body to wrestle with the issue was an independent advisory panel.
The Independent Advisory Panel for Constraints Relaxation was established to provide independent, non-partisan and expert advice to Basin ministers on a pathway to progress constraints relaxation in the Murray and Goulburn river systems
Here is a summary of their main recommendations:
No 1: Change the narrative
Basin ministers should make an in-principle agreement that constraints relaxation is an important pathway to improving river health outcomes, and that responsibility for progressing the program is shared across basin governments. Basin ministers should also agree to prepare a program business case which will outline the process of moving to an agreed position on program outcomes and the staged pathway for implementation.
No 2: Refocus the delivery model
Governments should establish a clear delivery model with the authority, funding leverage and accountability needed to support co-ordinated and timely delivery.
No 3: Strengthen community partnerships
The MDBA should establish a Ministerial Community Advisory Committee to ensure Basin communities are treated as genuine partners in the next phase of constraints relaxation.
No 4: Governments should shift to locally led delivery
Local and state-based delivery teams should work with landholders, First Nations organisations, councils, catchment bodies, water corporations and community groups to prepare local delivery plans for relevant river reaches and flow trials. Community and landholder engagement expectations should be built into delivery agreements.
No 5: Seeing by doing
Constraints relaxation should be removed from the SDLAM program and treated as a stand-alone, long-term reform program. The next phase should use a staged pathway. Governments should start with lower-risk actions, test higher flows through pilots, monitor outcomes, and scale up only where the evidence supports it.
No 6: Define program outcomes and costs
Governments should prepare a program business case using the Infrastructure Australia investment assurance pathway as the model. The constraints relaxation delivery entity should co-ordinate the system-wide program business case, covering both the Murray and Goulburn river systems.
No 7: Create a mandate for operations
River operators and decision-makers require the authority, operating rules and protections needed to deliver higher environmental flows with confidence, while communities need clear information, safeguards and redress pathways. Governments should create a clear authorising environment for constraints relaxation by updating the Commonwealth Water Act and Murray-Darling Basin Agreement.
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