YEA-BASED farmer Jan Beer, representing the Upper Goulburn Rivers Catchment Association, has called into question the science informing the Murray-Darling Basin Authority's (MDBA) Floodplain Grazing Productivity Project.
The concern follows information provided to the association regarding the recent project, which has been described as having “a complete lack of intellectual and scientific rigour”, accompanied by a lack of transparency and community engagement.
“This is an important project, which the MDBA has advised will be passed through to the Basin Evaluation and Basin Review, yet it is occurring without acceptable scrutiny," Mrs Beer said.
She condemned the limited scope of the evaluation and the failure to include science-based evidence in the review.
The review undertook two cases studies in the Northern Basin to inform the assessment, with data then extrapolated across to the Southern Basin.
"However, these basins are completely different, so using this process will provide inaccurate results for the Southern Basin," she said.
Additionally, Mrs Beer said the project would report on the impacts of floodplain inundation on grazing, but would only assess the impacts of Commonwealth environmental water.
"This is bizarre, and suggests the MDBA is simply trying to obtain the data that suits a pre-determined agenda.
"Only two properties have been used in the research, at Macquarie Marshes and Lower Balone, and the intention is to spread the results basin-wide," she said.
"This will not represent the economics of floodplain grazing across the entire Basin.
"And as far as consultation goes, the company undertaking the research has advised it ‘is not within their scope to take community engagement in the Southern Basin’.
"As such, landholders on the floodplains who have local experience and lived knowledge are being ignored, when they are the very people who could provide the most accurate information.
“The company has also advised that its study and analysis of investigation is ‘very limited’, which is obviously the way it has been designed by the MDBA.”
Mrs Beer said the very nature of the process will result in the MDBA misinforming and misleading decision-makers to believe that increased inundation of floodplains will be economically beneficial, when this is definitely not the case.
"I find it completely unacceptable and unscientific to use such a limited scope for this investigation, and to even think of drawing a comparison between the northern and southern floodplains by simply extrapolating results from two Northern Basin case studies, in my view is either incompetent or mischievous.
"Coincidentally, this all comes at a time when the MDBA’s Advisory Committee on Social, Economic and Environmental Sciences met recently (October 24) and stated at the start of its communique that they discussed ‘a long-term science strategy and noted the importance of inclusiveness and hearing from multiple voices via science engagement processes’.
"The Floodplain Grazing Productivity Project certainly does not follow that direction.
"The Basin Plan continues to be poorly implemented, with short and long-term adverse consequences for our nation, because those responsible are full of rhetoric and motherhood statements, but sadly lacking in genuine consultation and collaborative scientific assessment,” Mrs Beer said.