Submission to the 2026 Basin Plan Review

In the future, ATSE hopes to see Australia's plan for managing the Murray-Darling Basin respond more to climate change alongside the existing environmental, social and economic challenges.

ATSE makes the following recommendations to the 2026 Basin Plan Review:

Recommendation 1: Establish a national environmental data infrastructure with Commonwealth custodianship, supported by a funded program for data collection, standardisation, sharing, and a structured research, knowledge generation, and translation strategy.

Recommendation 2: Embed integrated climate, hydrological, and ecological modelling into the Basin Plan to support evidence-based decision-making.

Recommendation 3: Integrate Traditional Knowledge systems into water and land management alongside Western scientific approaches, within national data infrastructure and Basin-scale modelling.

Recommendation 4: Strengthen Basin governance by aligning the Basin Plan with the renewed National Water Agreement and updated Water Act, and re-establish an independent National Water Commission with oversight, advisory, and evaluation functions.

Recommendation 5: Strengthen cross-jurisdictional coordination by requiring regular review and updating of Water Resource Plans, supported by compliance and enforcement mechanisms, incentives and greater integration of catchment-scale governance.

Recommendation 6: Embed water quality as a core objective of the Basin Plan, including a system-wide water quality risk management approach.

Recommendation 7: Adopt an integrated catchment management approach that incorporates surface water-groundwater interactions and soil landscapes, to deliver regional solutions that balance the needs of all water users.

Recommendation 8: Adopt an outcomes-based approach for native fish recovery by setting species-level objectives and supporting ecological modelling, infrastructure investment, and targeted interventions to address threats and restore populations.