The Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) is the principal government agency in charge of managing the Murray–Darling Basin in an integrated and sustainable manner. The MDBA is an independent statutory agency that manages, in conjunction with the Basin states, the Murray–Darling basin's water resources in the national interest. The MDBA reports to the Australian Government Minister for the Environment and Water, held since June 2022 by the Hon Tanya Plibersek.
The MDBA was established under the Water Act 2007 (Cth), which was introduced by the Howard government as part of "A National Water Plan for Water Security". The Water Act 2007 was a response to the drought and the potential effects of climate change in Australia. The law aimed to fulfill Australia's obligations under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. The 2007 Act was substantially amended in 2008.
The Chief Executive of the MDBA is Phillip Glyde who replaced Dr Rhondda Dickson. The Chair of the MDBA is Air Chief Marshal Sir Angus Houston AK, AFC (Ret'd) who replaced Neil Andrew after his four-year term as Chair expired in 2019.
Whilst the MDBA is a Commonwealth Government agency, an intergovernmental Murray–Darling Basin Ministerial Council (Ministerial Council) acts in an advisory role in preparing and implementing the Basin Plan by the MDBA. The Ministerial Council comprises the Commonwealth Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources (who also chairs the Council) and one minister from each of the Basin states (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia) and the Australian Capital Territory. The Ministerial Council introduced the Murray–Darling Cap in response to the 1995 report titled "An Audit of Water Use in the Murray–Darling Basin".
Role of the MDBA
With the creation of the MDBA in 2008, for the first time, a single intergovernmental body assumed responsibility for planning the integrated management of water resources of the Murray–Darling Basin. In addition to the Commission's former functions, the MDBA's role includes:
preparing, implementing and enforcing the Murray–Darling Basin Plan
advising the minister on the accreditation of state water resource plans
developing a water rights information service which facilitates water trading across the Murray–Darling basin measuring and monitoring water resources in the basin gathering information and undertaking research educating and engaging the community in the management of the basin's resources.
The Murray–Darling Basin Authority is an integral element of the Australian Government's program Water for the Future which has four priorities; namely: tackling climate change supporting healthy rivers using water wisely and securing water supplies. The MDBA also commissions research into aquatic science and is a source of information on Australian freshwater biology.
History
Since 1914, there have been various intergovernmental agreements relating to Murray–Darling water resources. Prior to the formation of the Murray–Darling Basin Authority, institutional arrangements for water resources management lay with the five State and Territory governments in the Basin, with little co-ordination. In response to this problem, the Murray–Darling Basin Commission was established in January 1988 under the Murray–Darling Basin Agreement, with a charter to efficiently manage and equitably distribute River Murray water resources. Secondly, it was to protect and improve the water quality of the River Murray and its tributaries; and lastly to advise the Murray–Darling Ministerial Council on water, land and environmental management in the Basin. The controversial history of water allocation in the Basin and disputes between irrigators and environmentalists dates from the 1960s and is documented in the book, Cottoning on: Stories of Australian Cotton-growing by Siobhán McHugh (Hale and Iremonger 1996), which was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's History Prize in 1997. The Water Amendment Act 2008 was introduced in December 2008 to amend the Water Act 2007. This law transferred authority from the Murray–Darling Basin Commission to the Murray–Darling Basin Authority, creating an independent, expert-based body that would manage the Basin holistically for the first time.
As at November 2016, the MDBA is four years into the implementation phase of the Basin Plan. The MDBA has published major bodies of work, including: Basin environmental watering strategy Annual environmental watering priorities Constraints management strategy New water trade operating rules
The MDBA also established a water trading scheme across Basin states to increase water use efficiency.