Speech to the Murray Darling Association Conference

*** CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY *** 
 
Thank you for inviting me to your national conference, here in Albury, in beautiful Wiradjuri country.   
 
I pay my respects to Wiradjuri elders past and present – and acknowledge their ongoing connection to their traditional land.  
 
Albury is a natural meeting place, as it always was for First Nations people.  
 
Indigenous Australians would gather here, on the banks of the Murray, to share their stories, to exchange knowledge, to perform marriage rites, and to hunt and feast and generally enjoy themselves. 
 
They gathered here, in this place, because water has always been life on a continent like ours.  
 
Indigenous Australians knew that better than anyone.  
 
They knew how to read the river system. They knew how to preserve the river system.  
 
And they knew how to use it efficiently.    
 
When Charles Sturt led his first exploration down the Murray, he found that Indigenous people could tell exactly when – from the smallest rise and fall in the river – a dried up water hole would turn into a healthy pond, teeming with birds and fish.   
 
We are so lucky to share this continent with the world’s oldest continuous culture, and the most successful environmental custodians on earth.  
 
That’s why our government is committed to lifting up their Voice – and to learning from their remarkable example.      
 
Can I also acknowledge some of the other guests and speakers joining us today:

• David Thurley, National President of the Murray Darling Association  
• Mark Lamb, CEO of the Murray Darling Association 
• Andrew McConville, CEO of the Murray Darling Basin Authority 
• Troy Grant, the Inspector General of Water Compliance 
• And all the mayors, councillors, scientists, and other experts here at this conference from right across the Basin

Before I get into the rest of my speech, the first I’ve given since the Queen’s passing, I would like to also to pay my respects to her royal highness, Elizabeth the Second.  
 
On Monday, we marked the end of an era, and the final chapter of a great life.  
 
I know how deeply many people have felt her loss, particularly in regional and country Australia.  
 
And I also know that the Queen shared this affection, as she travelled through every corner of this massive continent.  
 
If you follow her movements over seventy years, she went pretty much everywhere in Australia. 
 
She visited Broome, Darwin, Albany, Alice Springs, Whyalla, Broken Hill, Ballarat, Bendigo, Mildura, Launceston, Burnie, Dubbo, Armidale, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville –  
 
And she also visited Albury too, with her husband Phillip and the future King Charles, in the year of our Bicentenary. 
 
From all reports – and from the photos you can still search online – the people of Albury embraced their Queen.  
 
Over ten thousand people turned up for her parade through town, and hundreds camped out overnight to get a front row seat.  
 
But there was also a funny story from that day I think this audience will appreciate.  
 
After the official parade, the high point of the Queen’s visit to Albury was going to be the launch of a new boat – the PS Cumberoona. 
 
This was a replica ship, built here in Albury – in memory of the steam boats that use to work this river in the nineteenth century.   
 
When the big day arrived, and the royal entourage came to town, the boat was there at the wharf, the launch was scheduled in the diary, everything was ready to go – but there was just one problem:  
 
There wasn’t enough water in the river. 
 
It’s true: after a long hot summer, and after a big irrigation season, it wasn’t safe to launch the boat … and the cruise had to be cancelled.  
 
Of course, Queen Elizabeth handled the news with her usual grace and composure.   
 
But she got a glimpse of just how complex river management is in these parts –  
 
When you’re balancing the needs of irrigation, the environment, seasonal change, as well as the occasional royal visit.  
 
Now, I don’t need to tell anyone at this conference how challenging river management can be in this country.  
 
Because managing the basin has always been your core business.  
 
This is the 78th national conference of the Murray Darling Association.  
 
By anyone’s measurement, that’s remarkable longevity, and proof that what you’re doing here is important.  
 
Since World War II, this association has been bringing local councils together, opening up dialogue, finding common ground, and campaigning for regional development across the basin.   
 
You fought for the Snowy Hydro Irrigation Scheme. 
 
You’ve lobbied for regional universities. 
 
You’ve campaigned for local tourism.   
 
You’ve led the fight against salinity.  
 
You’ve raised the alarm about carp and other invasive species.  
 
And you’ve been there for each other in the toughest times – through drought and flood and fire.  
 
The Basin, as you all know, is an immense place.  
 
If it was a country of its own, it would be the 29th biggest in the world.  
 
Bigger than Egypt. Bigger than Turkey. Bigger than France and Germany and England.  
 
No single organisation can capture it all – in all its brilliant diversity.  
 
Which is why local councils are so important here.  
 
The Association represents more than 150 councils across the Basin – from the Darling Downs in Queensland, through New South Wales and Victoria, to the mouth of the Murray and greater Adelaide.  
 
Think of the differences across that vast space – in geography and industry and climate and culture.  
 
More than any other level of government, councils can tell you what’s happening in these towns.
   
You’re the first to know when a region is suffering.  
 
You know when a crop is struggling, or a business is slumping, or when youth unemployment is spiking.  
 
Or in happier days, you know when a town is booming and needs an urgent expansion of services.  
 
This human knowledge – this first hand experience – is invaluable. 
 
Which is why our government is committed to supporting local councils in the work that you do:

• By including local government in National Cabinet  
• By reconstituting the Council of Australian Local Governments – to give you a direct audience with federal Ministers 
• By working with you all to deliver our priorities – in housing, transport, communications, and the transition to net zero emissions 
• And by building a fairer and more transparent grant funding system – so communities don’t miss out on the support they need because they don’t have the right political connections, or because they find themselves in the wrong federal electorate  

Now, I don’t think anyone here is naïve.  
 
Every council is coming to the Association with its own perspective, its own motivation, and ultimately its own interests.  
 
But what the Murray Darling Association shows is that – even with these differences – genuine collaboration is possible in the Basin.  
 
It shows that we can acknowledge our points of disagreement, while working together on the interests we share in common.  
 
And those interests are very real.  
 
Because we all want a healthy Murray Darling system.  
 
We all want to see these rivers connecting up together, in a big web of fertile land, all the way to the sea.  
 
We all want to guarantee the water Australia needs to irrigate our farms, and to grow our incredible produce. 
 
And we all want this Basin to be sustainable – to be there for us in twenty, fifty, a hundred years time.  
 
That’s why we designed the Murray Darling Basin Plan in the first place. 
 
And I want to acknowledge all the hard work your communities have put in over the past ten years – and all the cooperation, good faith, and sacrifice you’ve shown for this river system.  
 
We probably don’t say this enough, but it’s made a substantial difference.  
 
Water recovery, efficiency projects and environmental flows are already creating a healthier, more resilient Murray Darling Basin.  
 
I realise this wasn’t easy for many of your towns.  
 
I’ve talked to a lot of irrigators over the past three months – and I understand why you value your water so fiercely.  
 
As I said at the Bush Summit in Griffith: irrigation has been a great thing for this country.   
 
No one in our government has any interest in undermining irrigation, or demonising irrigation, or minimising its role in our national prosperity.  
 
But what we do want is to make sure irrigation communities are sustainable …  
 
… So the next generation of farmers can embrace their future with the same confidence their parents and grandparents did.  
 
That’s why we have a national water plan – and I think it’s important to take a step back and recognise what water recovery has already achieved for the Basin. 
 
As you heard from the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder yesterday, a record two thousand gigalitres of water was delivered to the river system last year.  
 
It can feel strange talking about drought right now, when we’re in the middle of our third La Nina cycle and our biggest concern is flooding …  
 
… But in dry years, that water has been a lifeline. 
 
In 2018 and 2019, water recovery helped save rivers in the Northern Basin, when the situation was absolutely dire.   
 
Those rivers had shrivelled up to nothing, placing towns and local ecosystems under intense stress.  
 
The release of water – coordinated at the Queensland border – offered these communities hope when they needed it most.  
 
Hundreds of kilometres of river benefited from this environmental water – and every town along the way celebrated its journey south.  
 
This was a great achievement – a great collective achievement – and it was only possible because of sacrifices you all made. 
 
And it’s also meant that, at the bottom of the system, at the mouth of the Murray, the river has stayed connected to the sea for eight of the past ten years – flushing salt and other toxins into the Southern Ocean. 
 
That’s what the Murray Darling Basin Plan was designed to achieve.  
 
And we have made significant steps towards realising our goals – and placing our Basin communities a sustainable trajectory.  
 
But the difficult truth is that water management is only going to get harder in this country. 
 
Rainfall patterns are changing. Temperatures are changing.  
 
Climate change means that, on average, we’ll get more rain in northern Australia and less rain in the south-east.  
 
Which means that Basin river flows could decline by as much as 30% by 2050.
 
Only last week, the Victorian Government released a report warning that, in fifty years time, the state could be desalinating 80% of its drinking water – because of climate change and weaker river flows.   
 
That’s why, at the election, Labor promised to deliver the full Murray Darling Basin Plan, including the additional 450 gigalitres of environmental water. 
 
I know this commitment isn’t universally popular, but I promise you: we’re not doing it because it’s fun – because it’s far from fun.  
 
We’re doing it because it’s necessary.  
 
That critical water release made during 2019 was a ray of hope – but it only just dribbled into the Bourke weir pool. 
 
Environmental water holders didn't have enough water to connect the river along its full length.  
 
And iconic native fish, like the Murray cod and catfish, are still struggling to recover in the Darling.  
 
We are committed to the full Murray Darling Basin Plan because it will mean more water is travelling down the full length of our rivers, particularly in drier years.  
 
This will deliver benefits across the Basin, including in the mid-Murrumbidgee, mid-Murray and Goulburn valleys. 
 
And it will help support our incredible biodiversity too.  
 
The recent State of the Environment report found that native fish in the Basin have declined by more than 90 per cent since European arrival – and that downward trend is still continuing.  
 
We all saw the distressing photos from the Lower Darling in our last drought.  
 
Wet years provide the perfect opportunity to repopulate waterbirds and native fish while breeding conditions are good.  
 
The Lower Murray just recorded its first successful breeding event for Golden perch in ten years, from southern Queensland, down the Darling-Baaka and into the lower Murray River.  
 
Environmental water is also supporting breeding programs in our wetlands – helping cormorants, egrets, royal spoonbills, glossy ibis and the straw-necked ibis grow and repopulate. 
 
This good for the birds and the fish – and it’s good for the entire Basin.  
 
We can never forget that our environments are systems, built on endless connections and relationships – that feed and support and sustain each other.  
 
That’s one of the most important things we can learn from the Wiradjuri and First Nations people.  
 
As we’ve said: our government is committed to delivering the full plan, but we’re open minded about how we get there.  
 
We’ll be consultative. We’ll be collaborative. But we’ll be purposeful. 
 
We won’t let the plan drift along any further.   
 
Which is why I’m so pleased to announce this morning that I have accredited the first water resource plan from New South Wales – the New South Wales Border Rivers Alluvium plan.  
 
This was recommended for accreditation by the Murray Darling Basin Authority, and as Minister I accepted this advice.  
 
Water resource plans are a critical part of the Basin Plan, because they set a limit on the volume of water that can be extracted from an area. 
 
And without accredited plans, the Inspector-General of Water Compliance has limited power to ensure that states are meeting their obligations – including limiting their water take to an environmentally sustainable level. 
 
New South Wales is responsible for 20 of the 33 Basin water resource plans, but it was the only Basin state without any in place. 
 
In our first meeting since I became Commonwealth Water Minister back in early July, I discussed my expectations on this issue with Minister Anderson … 
 
… And I want to thank the Minister for prioritising the development of these plans. 
 
It’s an encouraging sign – and proof that constructive engagement works.    
 
This will give everyone greater confidence that the Basin Plan is doing its job; that all Basin jurisdictions have plans to meet their end of the bargain; and that the Inspector-General can ensure the rules are being followed.  
 
And I expect that this plan will be the first of many.  
 
The Murray Darling Basin Authority is now formally assessing four other groundwater plans in NSW.  
 
And I understand a further four plans have been submitted for informal feedback.  
 
I expect all 20 water resource plans from NSW to be submitted in the very near future.  
 
We need all of these plans in place as soon as possible, so water users can feel assured that the rules are being applied fairly, right across the Basin. 
 
And this decision is certainly good news for the communities of the northern Border Rivers region, as they finally have certainty over the rules for water extraction. 
 
I’m happy to end on this positive note.  
 
I’m an optimistic person by nature – and my early travels across the Basin have only deepened that instinct. 
 
I’ve been in the Northern Basin and the Southern Basin.
 
I’ve been upstream and downstream.  
 
I’ve been to Queensland and New South Wales and Victoria – and I’ll be in South Australia next month.  
 
Wherever I go, the people I’ve met have overwhelmingly been adaptive, practical, and realistic.  
 
They’re rightfully proud of their communities.  
 
Proud of how productive they’ve made this land.  
 
Proud of how resilient they continue to be – whatever gets thrown at them.  
 
They’re proud – but they’re reasonable.  
 
We all know challenges facing us as a country and as a Basin.  
 
But we’ve shown that we can, when we work with each other, when we approach these challenges in good faith, make real progress for our shared river system.  
 
And if we can keep hold of our common interests – if we remember that we all rely on a healthy, connected, and resilient Murray Darling –  
 
Then I’m confident we can work together and ensure the Basin is sustainable and productive for generations to come. 
 
Thank you.