Like all irrigator representative bodies, Cotton Australia has continued to have a busy run lodging a stream of water policy related submissions. Earlier this week, Cotton Australia lodged its submission to the Murray Darling Basin Authority’s Menindee Lakes Review. This Review is significant in that, while there have been many studies and reviews of Menindee over the years, this Review has been endorsed by all jurisdictions with an active interest in the management of the Lakes.

The Cotton Australia submission does not specifically recommend any detailed infrastructure or management options but does call for:

• A very clear understanding of the ongoing purpose of the Menindee Lakes: water storage, environmental water management, an ephemeral wetland, or a combination of these
• Should changes in management or approach at Menindee lead to an impact on property rights for water entitlement holders, that impact must be fully compensated
• Infrastructure at Menindee must be upgraded so it is both effective and cost effective
• European carp must be eradicated or significantly suppressed, and infrastructure must be in place to allow for the passage of native fish upstream, downstream and through the Lakes
• The cost of works at Menindee must be borne by all taxpayers, as the system is required to deliver multiple outcomes
• Any trigger used to implement access restrictions in the Northern Basin should be based on volumes flowing into the Menindee Lakes, rather than the volume in the Lakes, as current triggers significantly impact upstream entitlement holders who have no say in how the Lakes are managed
 

Cotton Australia is in the process of finalising its submission to the NSW Government on the Northern Basin Connectivity Review, which will be lodged today (Friday). It will focus on the lack of a case for any action, and the inadequacy of both the hydrological and economic modelling.

Read Cotton Australia submission.