The judge determined on Monday that the MDBA does not hold a duty of care to water license holders.
Southern Riverina Irrigators CEO Sophie Baldwin said this sets a concerning precedent, and said it’s not yet clear if the ruling will be appealed.
Ms Baldwin said the judge’s decision means the MDBA has no duty of care to any licence holder, and its obligations remain to basin states.
She said it is the farmers and communities who will have to continue to live with the consequences “when they get it so wrong”.
“And over 2018-19, when the MDBA repeatedly flooded the Barmah Forest and NSW Murray general security allocations sat on zero, they certainly did get it wrong,” Ms Baldwin said.
“While this determination is extremely disappointing the class action has not been a loss.
“This is the first time the MDBA has ever been held publicly accountable, and the fact 28,000 irrigators united and chose to stand up and fight is something to be proud of.
“One of the most critical things to come out of the class action was the admission by the MDBA that when they go overbank they waste between 36 and 41 per cent of the water volume.
“This is a significant admission, and with the continued push to relax constraints and flood both private and public land under the basin plan, this amount of water will effectively be wasted every single time.”
It follows that should the conditions of the 2018 and 2019 summers ever repeat, instead of the MDBA going overbank to force water down the Murray, licence holders below the Barmah Choke will most likely face restrictions on accessing water, so South Australian water can be delivered unimpacted.
During the class action, the MDBA reportedly admitted they did not follow their own system operating rules and hid critical information from the public.
When talking about the decision to go overbank, the only two people with the authority to authorise the release were not involved.
The class action also found the MDBA’s only expert on river operations was not a river operator, had never been a river operator and did not have the intimate knowledge and expertise of a river operator.
“Agriculture, food security, jobs and communities are in the spotlight and at a critical point in time with both the Basin Plan and Water Act reviews currently happening,” Ms Baldwin said.
“With both Victoria and NSW Government elections on the horizon, and water fast becoming a national issue, we would like to hear from our state leaders about whether they are going to accept primary producers being sold down the river and if they intend to hold the MDBA to account.”
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