In a recent social media post, the Member for Murray shared a photo of the 2022-23 Murray River flood, showing the Lower Lakes and Coorong in South Australia and where the floodwater flowed.
“Besides the flood contributing to the algal bloom, two things should make people stop and think,” she said, pointing out:
1. The floodwater didn’t enter Lake Albert.
2. It barely reached the northern lagoon of the Coorong.
“This was the third-largest flood on record, arriving when Lake Alexandrina was already being held at artificially elevated levels.
“Yet even with that extraordinary volume of Murray water, very little made its way into the Coorong.
“So how can we keep pretending that simply sending more Murray water downstream is the answer to the Coorong?”.
Mrs Dalton says the flood exposed a fundamental problem with that narrative, and “it’s time we started questioning the management of the Lower Lakes and Coorong - not just demanding more water from upstream communities”.
“It’s time for a federal Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan,.”
Early this year Mrs Dalton put forward a motion to NSW Parliament calling for a Royal Commission, saying water policy in Australia had been plagued by scandals over the past decade.
The motion was passed by the parliament, but the Federal Government has rejected calls for a Royal Commission.
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