We don’t need another Royal Commission
We just need to get on with saving rivers and wetlands
Some politicians have been advocating for a Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. This might seem like a reasonable idea at first glance, and greater transparency and clarity on why river health continues to decline is valuable. However, we don’t need a Royal Commission to achieve that.
Here are the reasons why we don’t think another Royal Commission is needed:
- There has already been a recent, comprehensive, expert-led Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. The South Australian Government conducted a State Royal Commission in 2018 after the Federal Government refused to hold a national Royal Commission. The Commissioner was one of Australia’s most eminent and well respected jurists, Brett Walker AO SC. His report, handed down in January 2019, documented in detail the barriers that have prevented implementation of the Basin Plan and provided 44 recommendations to enable delivery of the Plan in full. The Royal Commission report offers an in-depth analysis of the current state and what is needed to implement the Basin Plan in full and deliver the objects of the Water Act.
- We already know what we need to do thanks to the South Australian Royal Commission, decades of research, monitoring data, climate modelling and policy analysis. We don’t need to spend more time and money on asking the same questions in another Royal Commission. We already have the information and we need to get on with making changes to protect rivers and wetlands and support the long term future of Basin communities.
- We need more science and less politics in how water is managed in the Basin. Another Royal Commission is likely to be used as a political tool to further delay the urgent action that is needed. Our rivers and wetlands are suffering and we need to get on with the job of restoring them based on the best available science NOW, not wait another two years for another Royal Commission to deliver its findings.
The South Australian Royal Commission Report is available here and the response of the South Australian Government to the report is here.
