Federal poll delays irrigation cuts plan
Updated
Basin draft plan release delayed again (7pm TV News SA)
Release of a much-anticipated draft plan for the future of the Murray-Darling Basin has been delayed.
A proposed July release had already been delayed until the first week of August.
Now the Murray-Darling Basin Authority says it would be inappropriate in the federal election lead-up to unveil the draft plan on future water use.
It has indicated the release will now be at the end of August.
Irrigators had been demanding details of expected big cuts before the federal poll.
Chief executive of the National Irrigators Council Danny O'Brien says delaying release of the draft brings the Authority's independence into question.
He says the delay is unjustified.
"My understanding, looking at the caretaker convention on the government website, is that it related to major policy decisions and this is not a major policy decision," he said.
"It is the guide to the plan, to the draft plan in fact.
"Even the Authority has made it clear that this is a discussion paper. Governments will not be asked to make a decision on the basin plan until next year. The guide should be released as soon as possible."
South Australian Riverland MP Tim Whetstone says the latest delay is extremely disappointing.
"I am outraged the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) are not going to release the plan until after the election and I think every irrigator and every water user should feel the same way," he said.
"It's not acceptable that they continue to stall the plan and one would ask just how political is the MDBA?"
The Authority has declined to comment.
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