Environment Victoria warmly welcomes many of the Productivity Commission’s (PC) draft findings and recommendations, particularly its founding premise that the best way to restore community confidence in water management in the Basin is to go back to the basics of good management.
We have concerns about some of the recommendations on environmental water planning and management, which do not address Basin Plan requirements to give effect to international agreements and protect Ramsar listed wetlands.
We also question the lack of emphasis on the benefits of water recovery to society as a whole, compared to what has become an all-too-common and narrow focus on impacts on irrigators only.