Lower Murray communities unite behind Murray-Darling Basin Plan

At Senate inquiry hearings in upstream states, the Basin Plan has been blamed for the collapse of rural communities; along the Lower Murray, Senators will hear when they visit next week, it has been their salvation.

Of 363 submissions received by the Senate committee looking into the Basin Plan before yesterday, more than 20 came from individuals or organisations in the Murraylands; every one of those supported the plan's continuation or enhancement.

Murray Bridge irrigators Barry and Joanne Pfeiffer said the certainty provided by the Basin Plan had enabled them to continue their business, though in beef and hay rather than dairying.

"We are managing to slowly put our business back in positive territory and can see that, as others do as well, there is some life coming back into the community," they said.

"Neither our business nor the system as a whole can afford to see uncertainty return."

Garry Hera-Singh concurred on behalf of the Southern Fishermen's Association.

"The political will to finally address this issue was one of the most significant political events in Australia's history and must not in any way be compromised," he said.

Seventh-generation Meningie farmers Mick and Lesley Fischer said their business was still fragile in the wake of the millenium drought.

"The Murray-Darling Basin Authority has come up with a plan; it may not be what we all want, but at least it is better than nothing," they said.

They called for the construction of a connector between Lake Albert and the Coorong to reduce salinity, and a separate management plan for the Coorong and Lower Lakes - both sentiments echoed in other submissions.

Others, including Clayton Bay river advocate Gloria Jones, said the Basin Plan did not go far enough.

"I don't believed the 2750 gigs (promised for the environment) are enough to fix the whole Murray-Darling Basin and keep the Murray Mouth open, freshen the Coorong and get rid of the nation's salt," Mrs Jones said.

Aside from more environmental water, she called for the Federal water ministry to be independent of agriculture, and for human needs and mining to be taken into account within the Basin Plan.

The Coorong council called for more salinity measurement in the Lower Lakes, and the Mid Murray council for more work on the inundation of riverfront shacks.

Numerous submissions said the Senate inquiry was premature or unnecessary, given the Basin Plan had not yet been fully implemented.

If the plan's implementation were put on hold, the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin NRM Board said, business certainty and economic development would falter and the good faith of Murraylands communities would have been for nought.

Regional Development Australia's Jo Podoliak agreed that the stability and certainty the plan provided were "critical" to jobs growth.

The Senate committee will hold public hearings at the Fleurieu Function Centre, Goolwa next Tuesday and the Renmark Hotel next Wednesday.

Murray Valley Standard, SA