Dear Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister for the Environment and Water, Murray Watt, 

The Murray-Darling is Australia’s largest river system – stretching thousands of kilometres across south-eastern Australia. Its rivers are the lifeblood of communities, sustaining towns, farms, culture and unique ecosystems for generations.  

But decades of corporate greed and political mismanagement have starved our rivers of the water they need, and this life-giving system is at risk of collapse. Without urgent and ambitious reform, Basin communities risk being defined as places of toxic algal blooms, mass fish kills, water insecurity and extinction. 

Your government listed the Lower Murray and it’s connected its wetlands, floodplains and groundwater systems as Critically Endangered. This is a grave recognition: there’s a very high chance that these river ecosystems will be extinct within a decade.  

Naming this harsh reality is important. But without a better Basin Plan and making sure these places get the water they need, nothing will change. The 2026 Murray-Darling Basin Plan Review and Water Act Review must be a turning point for our dying rivers.  

As a concerned community member, I urge you to fix the broken rules that allow too much water to be taken from our rivers. To reconnect rivers with the floodplain, and to restore First Nations’ authority to care for water landscapes: returning water that always was, and always will be, Aboriginal.

Reviving the Murray–Darling isn’t optional – it’s essential to ensure clean water, strong communities and healthy land for generations to come.