The third River Peoples’ Forum drew First Nations, locals, experts and managers to Swan Hill’s Lower Murray Inn recently, discussing the region’s future water management.
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More than 150 people packed into Swan Hill’s Lower Murray Inn on Friday, June 19 for the third bi-annual River Peoples’ Forum, united by a shared concern for the future of the Murray-Darling system.
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Gathering on sacred river country, the forum brought together First Nations representatives, local community members, researchers and water managers for a day of presentations and discussion focused on improving flows and connectivity across the basin's rivers.
The morning program, titled Navigating the Next Era of Water Policy, set a sobering tone.
South Australian Commissioner for the River Murray Dr Emma Carmody and Australian National University professor Quentin Grafton both warned of serious risks as the basin moves into a critical period ahead of the new Basin Plan in 2027.
Dr Carmody pointed to the Lower Murray’s listing as Critically Endangered under federal environmental law this year as a sign that stronger action is needed.
“It would be a profound act of cognitive dissonance to list this ecological community on the one hand but fail to do what's necessary under the Water Act and Basin Plan on the other,” she said.
She also called for tougher compliance across the basin.
“The history of water law in the basin is sadly a history of non-implementation and non-enforcement. Somebody has got to hold them to account.”
Prof Grafton warned that despite 14 years of basin plan implementation, water diversions in the northern basin have doubled, possibly tripled, since 1995, on top of reduced inflows from climate change.
“This is a very serious situation, a water emergency. We need to think and act differently,” he said.
Australian National University professor Quentin Grafton, and South Australian Commissioner for the River Murray Dr Emma Carmody.
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The afternoon focused on solutions.
G-MW water resource manager Dr Mark Bailey outlined the complexities of managing consumptive and environmental entitlements across Victoria.
ANU honorary senior lecturer Dr Matt Colloff also presented his research, supporting constraints’ relaxation as a more effective and cost-efficient approach than engineering works.
Local organiser Peta Thornton, of the Swan Hill Sustainability Group and Friends of Nyah Vinifera Park, said the Mid-Murray region needed to see a fair return for its significant contribution to water recovery.
She said operational rules imposed since 2012 had capped flows at Torrumbarry to 17,000 megalitres per day, well below the 20,000–25,000 Ml/day that regularly reached Swan Hill before the mid-1990s.
Ms Thornton thanked Environment Victoria for its continued support and said she was encouraged by the commitment shown on the day.
