23/06/2026
MEETING FOR BOOK RELEASE AND MURRAY DARLING BASIN PLAN UPDATE
MOLESWORTH HALL AT 5.30 FOR 6PM FOR A POWER POINT PRESENTATION SOUP AND SUPPER PROVIDED
“Caught in the Current”–
“The Dire Consequences of Politics Driving the Murray Darling Basin Plan”
Will be released at the Molesworth Hall on Friday 26th June at 6pm.
This book has been published by a small group in the Southern Basin Community, seeking to educate the broader community on issues with the Basin Plan, its history and implementation, as well as providing potential solutions.
It is important that all Australians understand not just the devastating impact of the Basin Plan, but how river management used to work according to world’s best practice;
how change came about after 1994, culminating in the Water Act 2007;
why the changes seem to have led Basin planning down a flawed path; and what processes and policies could put planning and operation of the Basin back on track with world’s best practice.
This book gives the other side of the Basin Plan, and will inform farmers, irrigators, town communities and business organisations, federal and state politicians and students studying agricultural and environmental sciences. Indeed, it is relevant to all Australians because of the implications for the nation’s food production.
A small group of Community members spanning three states, Ken Jury- Goolwa SA, Kevin C**k- Sunraysia citrus, Sophie Baldwin, Executive Officer Southern Riverina Irrigators, Jan Beer- Upper Goulburn and John Lolicato- Barham, along with Pat Byrne, compiled the compelling read. Pat Byrne, a former president of the National Civic Council, an organisation with close ties with the rural sector for over 80 years, said Australia’s water management has not always been so destructive. “Despite a 13-year drought between 1997 and 2010, there was little change in the nation’s food production largely thanks to ingenious water management, especially by the now abandoned Murray-Darling Basin Commission (MDBC).”
The book has sought to raise the understanding of how water policies and processes have developed and changed over decades, and how many of the recent deep cuts in water allocations to irrigated food production in the Basin have been destructive for regional economies and communities, particularly of irrigation districts in the southern Basin.
If communities hope to influence change in Basin Plan water management, they need to know ‘the whole story’ and what needs to be done.
Caught in the Current is available for sale for $30.
