Page 177 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2019
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In key modelling by the MDBA, climate change was not considered or factored in. The commissioner said this decision was unlawful as it meant the basin plan was not based on the best available scientific knowledge and was done with total disregard for the principle of ecologically sustainable development. Relying on historical climate data from 1895 to 2009 was also unlawful and, the commissioner added, indefensible from a policy perspective.
The commissioner points out that the best available scientific knowledge developed worldwide continues to point towards significant warming in the southern basin from 2030 and beyond and a significant if not catastrophic reduction in run-off, depending on global greenhouse gas emission scenarios.
The MDBA failed to conduct any review of climate change risks to the basin. The commissioner said this demonstrated ongoing negligence by the MDBA. He said it was a dereliction of its duties and was not just indefensible but also incomprehensible. It shows a contempt for the principle of intergenerational equity.
The commissioner went on to point out:
Since 2013, research—and peer-reviewed published work—in relation to climate change in Australia has been significantly curtailed, in part at least because of a lack of direction and funding by the Commonwealth Government. This is to the significant detriment of the proper implementation of the Basin Plan. It is against the national interest. A Commonwealth body is urgently required to lead the way in adaptation, and identifying what solutions can be found to such change.
The commissioner went on to say:
Climate change is happening now, and can occur quickly. Deferral to a later date, or asserting that climate change risk is shared between the environment and licence holders by yearly allocation based on water availability, is nonsensical in a policy sense as well as unlawful.
These are damning words from a royal commission. It is an extraordinary series of findings and is one of the most powerful things I have seen written in a while.
The commissioner does not hold back in highlighting the negligence of the MDBA in this area, caused by its failures to respond to the clear and extensive scientific evidence of the impacts of climate change. He goes on to say:
… the climate is changing faster than at any time in recorded history, and it is changing because of human activities—the MDBA knows this.
There will undoubtedly be higher temperature extremes globally and in the Basin—the MDBA knows this.
Sixteen of the past 17 years of the planet’s recorded history have been the hottest on record—the MDBA knows this.
The commissioner is making the point that the evidence of climate change and its impacts on the natural environment are well known and it is negligent to ignore them.
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