Murray-Darling Basin Plan

The majority voted in favour of a motion introduced by SA Senator Rex Patrick (Centre Alliance), which means it was successful.

Motion text

That the Senate:

(a) notes that transparency, in relation to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and its implementation, is critical to public confidence; and

(b) orders there be laid on the table, by the Minister representing the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, by 23 August 2018:

(i) advices requested in a letter from the Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission to the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources of 3 May 2018, namely, all prior advice provided to the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources of 3 May 2018, concerning:

(A) the construction and proper interpretation of the Water Act 2007 and the Basin Plan,

(B) the lawfulness of the proposed amendment to the Basin Plan disallowed by the Senate on 6 February 2018,

(C) the lawfulness of the proposed amendment to the Basin Plan disallowed by the Senate on 14 February 2018,

(D) the lawfulness of the adjustment made to the Basin Plan, the subject of a disallowance motion defeated in the Senate on 8 May 2018, and

(E) the constitutional validity of the Water Act 2007 and the Basin Plan,

(ii) all documents, including any minutes of meetings made in accordance with section 196 of the Water Act 2007, evidencing the reasoning behind the change of reductions in diversions required to achieve environmental watering requirements of 3 856 GL (high uncertainty) and 6 983 GL (low uncertainty), down to a reduction in diversions to 2 750 GL in the report, The proposed 'environmentally sustainable level of take' for surface water of the Murray-Darling Basin: Methods and outcomes, dated November 2011, and the Basin Plan, as enacted on 23 November 2012,

(iii) all documents, including any minutes of meetings made in accordance with section 196 of the Water Act 2007, relating to the incorporation of social and economic outcomes into the determination of the long-term average sustainable diversion limit reflecting an environmentally sustainable level of take between 8 October 2010 and 23 November 2012,

(iv) all documents, including any minutes of meetings made in accordance with section 196 of the Water Act 2007, evidencing the further analysis conducted by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to investigate the ability of alternative SDL options and water recovery strategies to achieve environmental objectives which lead to the adjustment of the recovery target from 2 800 GL to 2 750 GL,

(v) all documents, including any minutes of meetings made in accordance with section 196 of the Water Act 2007, referring to the analysis of the equivalent environmental outcomes as required by section 7.15(1) (c) of the Basin Plan of each of the 36 supply measures,

(vi) record of any agreement to use another method within the meaning of section 7 of the Basin Plan for any of the 36 supply measures, and

(vii) the peer review of the report, Guide to the proposed Basin Plan, dated October 2010.