The Murray-Darling Basin Authority is preparing for a review of the basin plan, which was established in 2012.

The authority says the review will be focused on four key themes: climate change, sustainable water limits, First Nations and regulatory design.

“We will consider the changes needed to ensure a sustainable and healthy basin for the future, and following the review, we may recommend amendments to the basin plan,” the authority said.

A central pillar of the basin plan is setting the limits on water take for the whole of the basin. There is rightly intense public scrutiny around the method, modelling and decision-making process for determining the settings of the basin plan, including the permitted level of water take.

The basin plan review will consider the environmentally sustainable level of take and surface water and groundwater sustainable diversion limits using the best available knowledge.

If change is needed, the authority says it will carefully examine options and test their impact. It will look at what outcomes are possible under the SDLs, and what else is needed to support the delivery of outcomes.

The review will investigate opportunities to recognise and, where possible, support the outcomes desired by First Nations people.

“We’ll work with First Nations people to appropriately incorporate their knowledge into the evidence base we use,” an authority statement says about the review.

The authority is promising consultation and a discussion paper early in 2026.

The plan has been criticised for not incorporating an allowance for climate change.

“Our understanding of the impacts of climate change on the management and resilience of river environments and water users has significantly progressed since the basin plan was developed,” the authority said.

“We need to incorporate up-to-date climate data and science in the basin plan’s strategies and activities.”

The authority asserts average temperatures have risen across the basin by about 1.4°C since 1910.

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