The two-day summit involving environmentalists, scientists, Indigenous people and irrigators was held to prepare the MDBA for the 2026 review which looks at progress in the plan.
National Farmers’ Federation Water Committee chair and Finley dairy farmer Malcolm Holm said agriculture was missing from the top five issues at the end of the first day and he had the impression that food production in the basin was being taken for granted.
“It was pretty disappointing,” Mr Holm said.
“The first day the discussions tended to be driven from the top down, but the second day was better when broader issues from the regions came to the surface.
“Twenty years ago, Sydney and Brisbane didn’t access any basin milk, but now the dairy industry in the southern basin provides about 25 per cent of that milk. Consumers wouldn’t be aware of that change.”
He said it should be remembered that about 80 per cent of money generated by dairy farms is spent within 100km of the farm, so this had a direct impact on the health of regional communities.
“The NFF has always been an advocate for strong communities, strong agriculture and better environmental outcomes.”
Mr Holm said the situation was mostly corrected on the second day of the summit when agriculture and vibrant communities were more prominent on the agenda.
“At the end of the first day I would have given the summit a four out of 10, but after the second day, closer to six-and-a-half,” Mr Holm said.
“I think the event was salvaged by the second day.”
Mr Holm said there was some pessimism about progress of the basin plan, with a general rating across stakeholders of about 2.6 out of five.
“No-one gave it a five,” he said.
Tallygaroopna farmer Natalie Akers said it was the first meeting of its kind in basin plan history to get different interest groups together to discuss basin plan issues for two days.
“That was a positive,” Ms Akers said.
But she believes there is still more work to do in highlighting the importance of water to grow food.
“A number of groups still want more water from agriculture for the environment, despite 2100 Gl already being recovered so far,” Ms Akers, representing the VFF, said.
“We need to be careful with broad brush statements, at a high level we all want healthy rivers, but at a local level we don’t want to see our local environment along the Goulburn River damaged in an effort to get more water to South Australia.
“We need to operate within the ecological limits of each river system — we want to see healthy rivers on all systems that makes up the basin.”
At the end of the first day, stakeholders were asked to vote on ‘which elements of a desirable future most resonate with you?’. ‘More diversified agriculture’ came in at 17th.
MDBA chief executive Andrew McConville said the summit continued the conversation with First Nations people, industry, environmental, science and community leaders collaborating on the future of the basin.
“In 2026, the MDBA will review the basin plan. The review is a legislated requirement and will inform recommendations to government about the future management of the basin,” Mr McConville said.
