MURRAY-DARLING Basin Authority chief Craig Knowles has opened the prospect of a flexible water extraction cap in an effort to win the support of state governments for the basin plan, while federal Water Minister Tony Burke has threatened to railroad them if no agreement is reached.
Mr Burke yesterday warned he had power under the Water Act "to go over the top of the states" if they did not endorse the plan to return more water to the ailing river system, declaring the issue needed to be resolved this year.
His comments followed a chorus of criticism from the South Australian, Victorian, NSW and Queensland governments.
As an olive branch to the states, Mr Knowles has said the basin plan could be legislated in such a way as to allow the MDBA to be able to revise the amount of water that will be returned to the environment, without having to take the plan back to the federal parliament.
The 2750 gigalitres of water to be diverted for environmental use could be revised up to 3200GL or down to 2400GL.
The Australian
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