Comment | $13b Murray-Darling Basin rescue plan doesn't pass the pub test
The health of the Murray-Darling Basin continues to decline yet billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money have been spent trying to save it. Remember, if the river system doesn’t survive, the agricultural industry relying on its water will not, either.Management of the Murray-Darling has exploded into the news again after anotherexpose on Monday night.
To put into context the investment so far to help "save" the Murray-Darling system, there are three broad buckets of government money: $3.1 billion to “buy back” water from willing irrigators, $5.6 billion for a water-efficiency program, the source of the current subsidies, and $2 billion to make rivers run more efficiently. In total with other investments, the basin plan is costing taxpayers more than $13 billion.
Claims yesterday that irrigators are now drawing from a "smaller bucket" of water simply miss the point. Overall, there is less water in the system, which is in serious decline.
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