INVESTIGATION CLEARS QUEENSLAND OF MURRAY DARLING WATER BREACHES

A State Government inspection of a South West Queensland property had cleared the owners of any breach of the Paroo River Intergovernmental Agreement, Natural Resources and Water Minister Craig Wallace said today.

The property, located south of Eulo, has been the subject of intense media scrutiny following the release of a report by University of New South Wales academic Professor Richard Kingsford.

The report A case study: floodplain development on the Paroo River raised a number of issues surrounding the management of water along the Paroo River and made several claims about illegal works on a property in the catchment.

“We took the claims of mismanagement of resources very seriously, and carried out a new inspection, even though the Department of Natural Resources and Water had inspected the property only last year,” Minister Wallace said.

“I sent a new team to the property to examine the claims, review the infrastructure in place and discuss the issues with the property’s owner.

“The team found there were no breaches of the Paroo River Intergovernmental Agreement nor of the Paroo Water Resource Plan which the Queensland Government put in place under its legislation to achieve the objectives of the Agreement.

Indeed, investigators found that the property owner had taken steps and made investments to make more efficient use of his available water. This is something I would encourage every irrigator across the Nation to do.”

Minister Wallace said the Government did not agree with the findings of the Kingsford report and was disappointed by the manner in which this matter was dealt with.

“The main issue of water management on the property has been investigated and finalised by the department. Hopefully, this will bring an end to the matter,” Minister Wallace said.

Minister Wallace said the Bligh Government’s commitment to ensuring the Paroo River Intergovernmental Agreement is properly monitored demonstrates how it is planning for the future.

Minister Wallace also rejected claims that Queensland had not shared it's water with Southern users.

Minister Wallace pointed out that the lion’s share of water taken from the Murray-Darling Basin every year is taken by NSW and Victoria.

"It is important to remember that, on average, Queensland takes less than 5% of the total water extracted from the basin, even though 25 per cent of the basin is within our State," he said.

"We put environmental flows first. Whilst our Murray Darling rivers enjoyed their best rain fall for many years last summer we allowed more than 75 percent of the runoff water to flow across the border into New South Wales.

Queensland sent more than 3,000 billion litres across the border from rainfalls earlier this year .

"Even in the best of years very little water from Queensland naturally makes it to the Murray due to floodplain breakouts, wetland absorption, evaporation and seepage along the way. Long term hydrological modelling shows that less than about 1 per cent of the flows at the Murray mouth come naturally from Queensland.

Clearly Queensland is not responsible for the drought effecting the Southern Murray Darling Basin." Mr Wallace said.

Media contact: Minister Wallace's office, 3896 3688.