A paper from Scott Hamilton, a Strategic Advisory Panel member at the University of Melbourne, and Professor Stuart Kells of La Trobe University, called How to undo Australia’s epic water fail, says “the failure of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is linked to poor political decisions but also poor market decisions”.
It says “decades of water market reviews and reforms have failed”.
Speak Up deputy chair Lachlan Marshall said the assessments of water policy by academics could not be ignored.
He said their findings were “a refreshing approach from our academics”, stating too many in academia have supported modelling and policy which rural communities knew would fail food production and the environment.
“While not everyone can be tarred with the same brush, most academic institutions have ignored the value of farms as an important habitat and food source for native flora and fauna, and some have presented questionable computer-based modelling,” he said.
“Yet when this is challenged, even by fellow scientists, they get defensive. We are aware of scientists who have been bullied for highlighting the flawed modelling in the basin plan. They are not prepared to publicly state their position, for fear their career will be threatened.”
He said rural communities wanted to work directly with academia and not through a government filter.
“The great tragedy of our water reform failure is that if academia would collaborate with our communities, Australia could lead the world in showing how food production and ecological outcomes can work together. But to do this, they need to visit our regions and get a greater understanding of our broad ecology.
“There is unlocked potential in combining farming and ecological outcomes. Trees, birds, frogs and fish don’t care if they are supported by a national park, a farm paddock or an irrigation channel, as long as they have water.”
Mr Marshall said working towards common ecological goals could unlock potential, ``however, we first need an academia that is focused more on genuine outcomes and less on government dollars".
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