With things heating up in the Murray-Darling Basin regarding the Basin Plan, we’re continuing to cover Basin politics with a fascinating interview with Richard Beasley who was Senior Counsel assisting to the South Australian Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin Back in 2018.

In a thorough investigation in 2018, the Royal Commission found that the Basin Plan was illegal, not just on the basis of a misreading of the Water Act but also that Murray-Darling Basin Authority had engaged in maladministration, acted with negligence, fostered scientific censorship and engaged in decision making that was incomprehensible and indefensible.

In 2021, Richard Beasley published a book, Dead in the Water, which presented the findings of the Royal Commission in a way that everyone can understand. This week we jump right into the deep end with Richard to remind us about the extraordinarily convoluted and flawed process that has been the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

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This week we cover more Basin Plan politics with an interview from Jono La Nauze, CEO of Environment Victoria. Environment Victoria have just recently published a report titled ‘Doomed without a drink’, on the state of the Basin’s animals and plants that are dependent on river flows.

Doomed without a drink - Environment Victoria

The report places 140 animals and plants in Victoria at increased risk of extinction without adequate environmental flows. EV are using this report to lobby Victoria to change its long-held opposition to water recovery buybacks, and relax the constraints that limit the ability to deliver environmental water to wetlands and floodplains.

The report highlights the legal obligations the state of Victoria has to prevent the extinction of fish, birds, frogs, invertebrates and plant; stating that the Victorian Government’s position on water recovery in the Murray-Darling Basin has long been in conflict with its legal obligations and commitments to biodiversity conservation.

The report asks the Victorian Government to rethink its opposition to Commonwealth water purchases, and to abandon controversial floodplain engineering projects and water offset projects in the Basin’s supply measures program.

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This week we share a panel discussion organized by Conservation SA and Environment Victoria, which took place at the Wheeler Centre in Naarm/Melbourne.

The panels discussion and Q&A has stated: "The rivers and wetlands of the Murray-Darling are in a state of ecological collapse, while genuine solutions to provide them with enough water have been off the table for a decade. This year, we have a real chance to change that – and it’ll take all of us speaking up.

Featuring Virginia Trioli (Mornings on ABC Radio Melbourne), with the Murray Darling Conservation Alliance and a panel of experts on the Murray Darling:

- Richard Beasley SC, the lead counsel for the 2019 South Australian Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin and author of the book Dead in the Water.

- Kate McBride, a young farmer, Parliamentary Liaison Officer and prominent advocate for the protection of the Murray-Darling.

- Brendan Kennedy, a is a Tati Tati and Wadi Wadi Traditional Owner, Deputy Chair of Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations (MLDRIN) and Chair of the Victorian Aboriginal Water Officer Network, among other accolades. He has been instrumental in elevating the profile of First Nations Water Rights in the Murray Darling Basin.

- Michael Vanderzee, a water policy analyst for the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. He has had an had an extensive career as a senior government policy adviser which, including 15 years' experience in national and state water policy reform.

It’s a chance to seize this moment by answering some basic questions – why is the Murray-Darling so important, what’s wrong with the river and how do we fix it?"

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This week has been NAIDOC week with the very important theme: For Our Elders. This week we celebrate 45,000+ years of Barkindji culture with two very special guests.

Dave Doyle is a Barkindji-Malyangapa wood carver, sculptor, curator, poet, and educator, among many other things. He is currently has an exhibition at the Broken Hill City Gallery and in April launched an exciting show called 'ngaratya' at Bunjil Place Gallery in Narre Warren. This exhibition brings together six Barkindji artists who have collaborated on a multi-media celebration of Barkindji Country and culture.

We also hear from Malyangapa/Barkindji musician Leroy Johnson artist who recently performed with the Sydney Youth Orchestra in Broken Hill. 

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This week we have seen reports of extreme spikes in sea surface temperatures across the globe. Reports of this data have largely appeared on social media, where stunned climate scientists and other researchers are currently discussing theories about what could possibly be the cause. 

We are still a number of months away from an El Nino being officially declared and so this spike in temperatures has left many scientists trying to figure out what on earth is happening. 

We talk to Environmental Geographer Professor Steve Turton from the Central Queensland University to discuss what this might mean for our waterways over the next few years, and whether we are really ready for a megadrought.

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We’ve got a big show this week with the team leader of the Independent Inquiry into the recent mass fish kills at Menindee, Deputy Chief Scientist and Engineer, Dr Darren Saunders. The team was out at Menindee last week listening to locals on the ground, and Dr Saunders spoke to us about the process of the inquiry and the approach that he and his team are taking in trying to find out why these fish died and how mass deaths like this might be avoided in the future.

Later in the show, we follow up on a story from a couple of weeks back that   looked into the economics of water entitlement buybacks under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. 

For that story we spoke to a water economist from the University of Adelaide Sarah Wheeler and the CEO of NSW irrigators council Claire Miller, both presented very different opinions about water buybacks. In this episode we hear from Federal member of Parkes the Hon. Mark Coulton about the role that he thinks water entitlement buybacks should play in managing the rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin.

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