High lead levels found in groundwater bores near contaminated Wangaratta...
High lead levels have been detected in groundwater used for drinking by a household near the North Wangaratta Recreation Reserve in north-east Victoria.
View ArticleTurtles 'keeping Murray River clean' struggling to survive climate change,...
A decline in the population of freshwater turtles which scavenge away all the dead fish is threatening the quality of water in the Murray River, an environmental foundation says.
View ArticleIrrigators, conservationists united in calls for more accountability with...
The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder says he is committed to accountability and transparency, and looking at ways to better communicate with basin communities.
View ArticleProductivity Commission report card praises nation's water management, but...
Australia's reputation as a world leader in water management is well-deserved but there's more to be done, says the Productivity Commission.
View ArticleMurray-Darling Basin Plan: Labor backs Greens' bid to stop Federal Government...
The Opposition will back a Greens' disallowance motion in the Senate to stop the Federal Government from changing the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
View ArticleMurray-Darling water licence rethink putting farmers' mortgages in question,...
The financial calculations for a lot of property mortgages in the Murray-Darling Basin may be on shifting ground, warns a former senior public servant with the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.
View ArticleFederal Government and Labor strike deal on future of Murray-Darling Basin Plan
The Murray-Darling Basin Plan will remain intact with the Federal Government striking a deal with Labor to to return less water to the environment in the southern basin.
View ArticleMurray-Darling Basin deal brings certainty for businesses and communities,...
Irrigators and Indigenous groups are cautiously optimistic about a deal struck by the Coalition Government and Labor to give certainty to communities in the Murray-Darling Basin.
View ArticleMurray-Darling Basin Plan: Wilderness Society threatens legal action
A South Australian environmentalist group says the decision to leave the Murray-Darling Basin Plan intact will condemn it to a bleak future and considers taking legal action to overturn the plan.
View ArticleBeef Australia 2018: Industry uses virtual reality to address consumer...
The growing demand for transparency and ethically, socially and environmentally sustainable food is one of the hot topics at Beef Australia 2018.
View ArticleMurray-Darling Basin: Meet the NSW water regulator saying he'll cut off...
Grant Barnes is a New Zealander who says he has a bit of mongrel in him, and as the chief regulatory officer overseeing NSW water access he says he will take on any irrigator flouting the law.
View ArticleAlpine brumby 'rehome or kill' plan by Victorian Government under fire
Animal advocates are up in arms over a strategy to remove wild horses from the state's High Country.
View ArticleMurray-Darling report finds drought and population decline costing more jobs...
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority's latest research, released today, finds of a 37 per cent decline in farm sector jobs, only 7 per cent were the result of the Basin Plan.
View ArticleScientist accuses Murray-Darling Basin Authority of interfering with research...
A former CSIRO scientist accuses the MDBA of "interfering" in his research around the time environmental goals were being developed for the Basin Plan.
View ArticleMurray-Darling Basin Plan: How $13b of investment can make a difference to...
Billions of dollars are being spent on infrastructure and environmental water to save the Murray-Darling Basin environment. Is it working?
View Article'No reusable cup, no entry': Community centre's hardcore war-on-waste policy
A community centre in northern Victoria has banned people from entering the premises with plastic or takeaway cups in an effort to end single-use waste.
View ArticleABARES report shows water market could cope in repeat of millennium drought
Despite increases in almond and cotton plantings in the southern Murray-Darling Basin, commodity forecaster ABARES reports water market prices would be no higher than the peaks of the millennium drought.
View ArticleArtificial island idea to help save declining Murray River turtles
Turtles using man-made islands as a nesting ground is one idea being put forward by Western Sydney University to help ensure the future of Murray River turtles.
View ArticleBarnaby Joyce's call to divert environmental water to drought-hit farmers...
Australia's new drought envoy Barnaby Joyce wants water being held for the environment to be given to farmers to grow feed crops for livestock.
View ArticleMurray-Darling Basin Plan has failings in governance, timelines and...
The Productivity Commission's draft report into the Basin Plan's implementation has highlighted a number of significant risks to its full implementation.
View ArticleThe Nationals not on the same page about water rights in the face of...
A call to use environmental water to help drought-affected farmers has been rekindled by Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, but his own colleagues are ruling out the idea.
View ArticleThe Murray River's biggest 'fish hotel' submerged under water to increase...
Community groups in South Australia's Riverland are taking the fate of fish stocks into their own hands and building fish hotels from scratch in an effort to restore the river's original habitat.
View ArticleMurray-Darling Basin Plan: Social impacts scrutinised by councils ahead of...
A new body of research outlining social impacts of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan has been released to coincide with a meeting of water ministers today.
View ArticleAboriginal rangers net thousands of carp in new project to rid the Murray...
With the Federal Government's carp eradication program on hold, Aboriginal rangers are leading a new trapping project removing thousands of the invasive fish.
View ArticleWater ministers on cusp of 'momentous' Murray-Darling Basin Plan decision
Water ministers are on the cusp of a "momentous" decision on the Murray Darling Basin Plan that could see the controversial rescue plan delivered in full.
View ArticleMurray-Darling Basin Royal Commission lays bare that 'the system is sick',...
The report has accused the body responsible for implementing the Murray-Darling Basin Plan of negligence, so how has rural Australia reacted?
View ArticleMurray-Darling Basin Royal Commission slams authority for 'maladministration'
The Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission finds Commonwealth officials committed gross maladministration, negligence and unlawful actions in drawing up the multi-billion-dollar deal to save Australia's...
View ArticleWarnings of towns being shut or losing drinking water over implementing...
Allocating more water to the environment is one recommendation from the royal commission but that would lead to up to 12 regional towns being closed down, according to the Victorian Water Minister.
View ArticleMurray-Darling Basin Royal Commission accuses David Speirs of conduct breach
The Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission accuses Minister for Environment and Water David Speirs of breaching his state's ministerial code of conduct over a deal with the Federal Government on...
View ArticleThe fury of the Murray-Darling royal commission findings has fallen on deaf ears
The Murray-Darling royal commission report was full of fury. But both sides of politics have no sense of urgency and bureaucrats are serving as scapegoats for negligence overseen and endorsed by...
View ArticleIndependent Senator questions whether 'driest continent on the planet' should...
Centre Alliance Senator Rex Patrick has thrown down the gauntlet to the cotton industry, challenging them to justify its use of water and its right to farm.
View ArticleQueensland floods unlikely to aid Murray-Darling Basin waterways but Lake...
Record rainfall in northern Queensland is unlikely to make its way into the Murray-Darling Basin to replenish thirsty waterways, according to officials, with Lake Eyre most likely to benefit.
View ArticleThe cotton grower, the water minister, the pumping ban and the broken meter
Facing close to $750,000 in fines for taking 381 megalitres of water during an embargo, irrigator Anthony Barlow pleads guilty to water offences, but maintains the former water minister told him he...
View ArticleDozens of heritage trees illegally felled for firewood at Loch Gary Wildlife...
Dozens of trees have been illegally felled at a northern Victorian wildlife reserve in night-time raids, with a local resident saying she's been kept awake by the sound of chainsaws at night.
View ArticleClimate, politics and animal activists: We asked the northern beef industry...
ABC Rural asks a group of industry leaders at this year's NT Cattlemen's Association conference to share their views on challenges and opportunities in 2019.
View ArticleBarmah brumby numbers to be cut by Parks Victoria in four-year plan
A draft strategic management plan for Victoria's Barmah National Park says more than 400 brumbies will be culled or rehomed over the next four years
View ArticleThe 'watergate scandal' is still as clear as mud in a drought
Labor is intent on pushing the so-called "watergate scandal". What exactly it is alleging is about as clear as the water flowing through the Menindee Lakes, writes Kath Sullivan.
View ArticleMurray irrigators lodge $750 million class action against MDBA claiming...
A group of nine irrigators has lodged a class action in the NSW Supreme Court against the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, claiming its negligent water management has caused $750 million in losses.
View ArticleMurray-Darling Basin residents' survey shows support for reallocating water...
A random survey of people living in the Murray-Darling Basin shows support for reallocating water from irrigators to Indigenous communities.
View ArticleMurray-Darling water plan walks a fine line between efficiency and the...
Taxpayer investments and the water market are making irrigation more efficient and reducing Murray-Darling's base flow. Here's what needs to happen next, write Q J Wang and Avril Horne.
View ArticleDrought and climate change are driving high water prices in the...
High water prices in the Murray-Darling Basin are blamed on foreign investors and corporate speculators. The simple truth is they are caused mostly by lack of rain.
View ArticleMurray-Darling Basin Plan royal commission push endorsed at NSW Farmers...
A motion calling for a royal commission into the MDBP narrowly passes on the final day of the NSW Farmers Conference.
View ArticleMurray-Darling Basin inspector-general to oversee water efficiency,...
A Murray-Darling Basin inspector-general will focus of water efficiency, compliance and theft under a proposal by Water Minister David Littleproud.
View ArticleWater prices in southern Murray-Darling skyrocket as increased water demand...
New analysis of water prices in the southern Murray-Darling Basin finds water prices sitting at levels only previously seen during the Millennium Drought.
View ArticleDumped gravel and rocks blocks environmental water from flowing into...
An irrigation channel used to release water into a forest along the Murray River in NSW is filled with earth and rocks, with an irrigator saying it's a sign of frustration boiling over in the area.
View ArticleWarning of 'dire consequences' for some Murray-Darling irrigators if water...
As farming groups lobby the Federal Government to take action on soaring water prices, water brokers warn some irrigators will be worse off if the Government intervenes in the trade.
View ArticleDavid Littleproud labels release of water storage images 'premature and...
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority will be investigated over its release of satellite images appearing to show dams filling with water, which David Littleproud labelled "premature" and "incorrect".
View ArticleWater traders without connection to farming are 'failing the pub test',...
Sussan Ley says she believes only people who have a "connection to farming" should be allowed to own water in the Murray-Darling Basin.
View ArticleMurray-Darling Basin Authority chief apologises for public release of dam...
The head of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority apologises for mistakenly publishing a report that identified farms via satellite imagery, which is now subject to investigation.
View ArticleCubbie Station tours Murray-Darling councillors through its controversial...
Australia's largest cotton farm Cubbie Station has opened its gates to local government councillors from across the Murray-Darling Basin.
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