06.05.2011A leading world authority on water has lavished praise on Australia's water management during the Millenium Drought which has now broken so spectacularly.Harvard Professor John Briscoe is a former Senior Water Advisor at the World Bank and was called in as an advisor to the Murray Darling Basin Authority in the preparation of the controversial … Continue reading High Praise For Murray Darling Water Management →

04.10.18The big winter wet of this year (2016) is a timely reminder of the flaws in the MDB Plan. I have long been fascinated by inland water flows in this very flat land, with highly variable rainfall, which is the predominant feature of Australia. Dorothea Mackellar got it so right with her classic line "Droughts … Continue reading Murray Darling Basin Plan-Big 2016 Wet-Reminder →

Recently a  radio commentator signed off by saying "we have spent billions of dollars on the MDB, yet the Lower Darling has ceased to flow". The speaker clearly believed that this statement said it all. In fact, it is a non sequitur. It simply does not follow that spending billions will create flow events. Nature … Continue reading Murray Darling Basin-Entitlements and Allocations →

Reminder from 2011Remember that book "Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics"? Well,we are seeing that theme borne out in the debate leading up to the next iteration of a Murray Darling Basin Plan. Leaks from Canberra have suggested that the new report will state that 2,800 GL should be recovered "for the river" by way of … Continue reading Murray Darling Basin Statistics →

28.05.2011Those of us who care about Australia's future (sustainable) productive capacity,must beware of being lulled into a "negotiating stance". If we believe, as I do, that talking about reduced extractions in terms of absolute numbers which relate to the maximum (100% allocation) figures applicable to Licenses, (7000 or 4,000 or 2,800 GL) is meaningless, then … Continue reading Murray Darling Basin Debating Terms →

November, 2011John Cox has written a great article putting some hard numbers on my much repeated point about Australian river flow variability and the difference between allocations and entitlement volumes. Here is an extract.There is no evidence that the sustainable diversion limits in this report were influenced by any social or economic outcomes, as the … Continue reading Murray Darling Basin Plan and Variability →

18.12.2010I follow Malcolm Turnbull on Twitter. Why? Because I have found him intelligent and interesting. When he was John Howard's Parliamentary Secretary for Water we had him out to Bourke to discuss irrigation issues and I was very impressed how quickly he got his mind around them. I was surprised by his commitment to the … Continue reading Murray Darling Basin Plan-Malcolm Turnbull →

The following letter was given 'Letter of the week" status in The Land of March 15-The letter from Diana Gibbs (The Land,March 1) a Board Member of the Murray Darling Basin Authority, raises some fundamental issues. We need to remember that the  Water Act was drafted at a time of extreme pressure from drought and green … Continue reading Letter to The Land-15.03.2012 →

11.05.2012In a speech to the Practical Responses to Climate Change Conference on 2nd May the C.E. of the Murray Darling Basin Authority said the following:-"Leaving aside the challenges of climate science uncertainty for a moment, I would like to turn to what we can be certain about.  There is more than enough information to be … Continue reading  Murray Darling Basin "Over-allocation" →