“The impact of the Basin Plan has been highly variable across some of these communities”
Highly variable is how the Murray Darling Basin Authority is describing the impact of the Basin Plan on Southern communities.
Analysis has found irrigated water recovery has sometimes had a large impact on communities, but it would have been even worse had it not been for infrastructure improvements.
Taking a snapshot at a handful of communities –
Loxton in South Australia has seen an 8 percent population increase between 2001 and 2016, but in the same time the workforce fell by nearly ten percent.
In Victoria’s North West in Mildura, the population has boomed since 2001 up by 34 percent, the workforce is up by nearly 26 percent.
Up stream in Shepparton, the population has dropped by nearly 16 percent, the workforce fell by nearly 27 percent.
Rural reporter Eddie Summerfield caught up with MDBA Executive Director Colin Mues.
Download this podcast here