Craig Wilkins, Co-Director, Murray Darling Conservation Alliance
Key takeaways
- This is a critical year for the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia’s largest river system, and ecological, agricultural and cultural asset.
- The Basin is experiencing severe stress and degradation from over-allocation, weak enforcement, and low public awareness, with critical wetland ecosystems receiving insufficient water, with parts of the river system facing risk of collapse.
- The Basin Plan is under review and needs to be strengthened through four priorities – climate adaptation, river connectivity, removal of constraints to environmental flows and grater First Nations involvement.
- The Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance is calling for urgent advocacy, enforceable protections, stronger water recovery and broad use of the Alliance’s conservation resources to raise awareness.
Craig Wilkins is Co-Director of the Murray Darling Conservation Alliance and has spent much of his career working to improve outcomes for nature and the environment. At this Professionals for Climate session, Craig explained some of the complexities of the Murray Darling water system and how we are at a critical juncture where there is an opportunity to improve water management.
Why the Murray-Darling Basin matters
The Murray-Darling Basin is Australia’s largest water resource, covering 14% of Australia spanning more than 1 million square kilometres from Queensland to South Australia. It supports more than 2 million Australians, underpins over $30 billion a year in agricultural production, and spans the lands of more than 40 First Nations groups.
The Basin in crisis
Water over-allocation since European colonisation has reduced river flows, damaged native vegetation, and accelerated environmental degradation. The Water Act created the national framework for Basin management, and the Basin Plan later sought to restore 3,200 gigalitres of water to the environment, still below the scientific recommendation of at least 6,000 gigalitres. To date, approximately 2,100 gigalitres has been recovered, while less than 5% of wetlands receive the water needed to maintain a healthy ecosystem.
The Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance works with irrigators, First Nations communities, and other stakeholders through initiatives such as the River Fellows Program to build advocacy and tell practical stories about the river’s importance. The Alliance warns that the lower reaches of the river were declared critically endangered in January, signalling a 50% chance of collapse within the next decade and escalating the risk to wildlife already dependent on a stressed system.
We are in a critical window to strengthen the Basin Plan, restore flows, improve floodplain and wetland health, and align river management with climate resilience, water justice, and biodiversity protection.
Barriers to effective Murray-Darling Basin management
Four barriers continue to limit effective Murray-Darling Basin management:
- Entrenched interests: Competing demands for water, particularly from irrigators, continue to reinforce historic allocations even where the system is over-allocated.
- Poor rules and enforcement: Weak laws and oversight, particularly in New South Wales, allow practices such as unmetered pumping and insufficient protection for first-flush flows after rain events.
- Low public awareness: Around 40% of Basin residents are unaware they live within the Murray-Darling Basin, limiting the community mandate for reform.
- Floodplain harvesting: Large Northern Basin dams capture significant water before it reaches the Darling River, contributing to mass fish kills, poor water quality, and blue-green algae.
The 4 Cs — Climate, Connectivity, Constraints and Culture
The Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance believes the Basin Plan review should prioritise four connected reforms:
- Climate: Incorporate climate change modelling and adaptation strategies, recognising that reduced rainfall can drive disproportionately larger runoff losses and that freshwater systems are natural climate stabilisers.
- Connectivity: Maintain continuous base flows so water can move through the Basin rather than being intercepted upstream before it reaches stressed downstream ecosystems.
- Constraints: Remove physical and legal barriers that prevent environmental water from reaching wetlands and floodplains and restoring natural river rhythms.
- Culture and water justice: Increase First Nations water allocation and decision-making roles, drawing on proven land and river management knowledge built over millennia.
What you can do now
- Write to your state or federal representative before the Basin Plan review milestones and ask them to support stronger water recovery, enforceable environmental flows, and better protection for first-flush events.
- Use the Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance resources and materials for practical advocacy and to share a clear public message on why this year is a make-or-break year for river health, climate resilience, and water justice.
- EDO resources and other guides are useful background and can help prepare detailed responses
- Further reading:
- Why the law is starting to recognise rivers as living entities (author: Environmental Justice Organisation)
- Canadian Pension Funds role in Australian farm ownership (abc.net.au)
- Book recommendation: Dead in the Water (author: Richard Beasley)
About the speaker
Craig Wilkins is the National Co-Director of the Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance and has a lifelong connection with the river. The Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance is a coalition of four state-based conservation councils advocating for stronger environmental outcomes across the Murray-Darling Basin.
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