The Ricegrowers' Association of Australia has urged governments to use the Murray-Darling Basin Authority's Draft Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism (SDLAM) Determination as an opportunity to draw a line under further water recovery and transition to a new phase focused on environmental outcomes.

The RGA lodged its submission in response to the SDLAM Draft Determination, acknowledging that the MDBA has correctly applied the framework set out in the Basin Plan, but highlighting the need to move beyond water recovery.

RGA president Justin Sutherland said the determination represented a crucial decision point for governments after more than a decade of Basin Plan implementation.

“For fourteen years Basin communities have adapted to water reform, delivered water recovery targets and learned to operate within a changing landscape,” Mr Sutherland said.

“We are now seeing the cumulative impact of those decisions in irrigation districts, value added agriculture, and regional communities across the southern Basin.

“Before pursuing any further recovery, governments need to carefully consider whether it will genuinely improve environmental outcomes and whether the cost to communities is justified.

“There comes a point where governments need to recognise what has already been achieved and focus on managing the system we have rather than continually pursuing additional recovery,” he said.

RGA executive director Perin Davey said the real issue was not the calculation itself, but how governments choose to respond.

“The determination identifies a shortfall under a formula developed in 2012, but fourteen years of Basin Plan implementation has taught us that environmental outcomes are not simply a function of how much water has been recovered,” Ms Davey said.

“The MDBA has now acknowledged that river connectivity, environmental water delivery, habitat condition, infrastructure and operational management are often the factors limiting environmental outcomes, not simply water volume.”

The RGA submission argues governments should resist calls for additional water recovery and instead focus on practical measures to directly address remaining environmental challenges.

It notes the SDLAM was created as an adaptive mechanism to recognise environmental outcomes could be achieved through a range of different approaches. Ironically, it now risks being used to justify more water recovery despite everything learned over the past 14 years.

The RGA noted that many of the projects contributing to the identified shortfall, including constraints measures and initiatives at Menindee Lakes, continue to be actively pursued by governments through revised implementation pathways.

“These projects have evolved. They have not been abandoned. Governments continue to invest in them because they continue to expect environmental benefits to be achieved,” Ms Davey said.

Mr Sutherland said the real question is not whether the shortfall exists. The question is what governments do next.

“After 14 years of implementation, it is time to draw a line in the sand and move from a recovery-focused Basin Plan to an outcomes-focused Basin Plan,” he said.

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