What Are We Saving?

The Murray Darling Basin Plan is a $13 billion policy to restore the balance; an adaptable plan, based on best available science.

Like a snowball gathering momentum the list of ‘unintended’ consequences continues to grow and much like the Victoria’s hotel lockdown fiasco there is a reluctance to address the problem.

Where does the reluctance come from? If there is a huge problem, like the rapid erosion of over 400km of the Murray River why does no one act?

Is this just a political plan? A plan where actual outcomes carry less weight then ‘desktop modelling’?

Imagine if the Basin Plan was a bridge over a body of water. 

The visionaries who wanted to construct the bridge would be Australian Federal Government and the construction company, the Murray Darling Basin Authority.

Now construction of this hypothetical bridge is nearly complete.

Along the way there were some hiccups, 

The visionaries who designed the bridge have been replaced a few times,

The construction team has also replaced management multiple times,

The communities who had the bridge rammed through their region are less than impressed due to the “unintended consequences”

The visionaries remind us “hard yards have been done” and “we’re nearly there.”

The load test day for the bridge rolls around.

A 1km train approaches the 1km bridge.

The locomotive eases onto the new structure, the new steel beams groan under the strain.

“It’s ok, this just the normal response to change”

The train inches forward. After every 10 metres, the visionaries and construction crew crow of their engineering success.

“It’s been a long road; the end is in sight and we have made a huge change”

As the train reaches the middle things start to take a turn.The new bridge appears to have some flaws.

“Maybe we show pause and consider what is happening,” the communities shout.

“It’s fine, we’re nearly there, we’ll take your concerns on notice and conduct reviews as we continue,” replied the bridge crew.

The train continues unabated, some of the high tensile bolts start to let go like gunshots.

“You appear to have some issues; we don’t think this is going to work,” grumbled the communities.

Considering the communities’ concerns sour grapes, they push on, “We hear your concerns, but our experts reassure us that everything is fine.”

The bridge beams start to buckle, the community so concerned launch an injunction, but it falls on deaf ears.

If the bridge was to fail is will affect us all, our communities, our businesses, and our environment for generations to come.

Balanced?

Adaptable? 

Triple bottom line?

Best available science?

Or just “On time and in full”