The Murray-Darling Basin Authority will publish a revised guide to its controversial draft water plan within four weeks, but says the size of proposed water cuts has not yet been finalised.
The agency also told a Senate estimates environment hearing yesterday it could not confirm if it would hold public meetings to discuss the new guide. Officials also baulked at questions about whether a detailed implementation plan was being developed to explain how water cuts will be delivered.
Questions by Coalition senators Barnaby Joyce and Simon Birmingham also revealed basin communities will face at least four more years of uncertainty over water allocations for farms and towns. A final draft plan is expected to be issued next August, followed by a three-year review period, with further scope for amendments to the plan over the next two years before it's finally rolled out in 2019.
The authority could also not confirm details of potential groundwater allocations for coal seam gas mining operations across Australia's biggest food bowl.
Canberra Times
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