Rural and regional communities of the Murray–Darling Basin

Abstract Developing the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB) for agricultural production has been an important nation-building project for over 150 years. Originally driven by ideals of closer settlement and small-scale yeoman farming, intensive development has transformed the MDB into one of the world's largest and most agriculturally productive river Basins. The MDB now supports an annual $A24 billion agricultural industry and provides one-third of Australia's food supply. Much of this success has been due to the development of the Basin's water resources, primarily due to government investments, aimed at providing the necessary security of supply for irrigators. Intensive development of the MDB has transformed its river systems, with the largest changes occurring in the southern Basin. The presettlement hydrology of the MDB was not well suited to European agriculture, without intensive irrigation. In the southern MDB peak, annual flows occurred in winter and spring, while agricultural water needs are greatest in summer and autumn. Meeting these agricultural needs has necessitated large capital investments in storages and other structures for river regulation and delivery of water to agriculturalists outside the natural flow regime. The capital cost of these works has been met predominately by governments, and this has led to long-running debates about cost recovery, distribution of benefits, and the role of government. Over the last 40 years, concerns about the environmental impacts of these major changes to river systems and large water withdrawals have created significant conflict in the Australian community. It has also created tensions for governments between supporting agricultural production and protecting the Basin's significant natural capital assets for all Australians. The MDB community has changed significantly over recent decades from one highly dependent upon agriculture to much more diverse communities, particularly those in the larger regional centres. While irrigated agriculture is still important to the economy of the MDB, it is no longer the dominant economic sector. Its economic importance is likely to be further reduced as climate change continues to affect the hydrological and temperature regimes of the Basin. Recent reforms of Basin water policy, designed to drive agricultural water use to its highest value and provide more water for the environment, have altered patterns of irrigated agriculture and returned water to the environment. In doing so, they have added to pressures on some of the more remote rural communities, particularly those highly dependent upon low-value irrigated agricultural production. Rural communities already faced ongoing pressures related to climate change; increased mechanisation of agricultural industries and fewer jobs; fluctuations in global markets; and ongoing demographic changes, such as decreasing and ageing populations. This chapter covers the historical development of land and water resources of the MDB; the reduced importance of agriculture (irrigated and dryland) to the Basin community over recent decades, changing social and economic conditions in the Basin; and the effects of water reforms on irrigators and rural communities. It provides policy suggestions for improvements in targeted support for rural communities undergoing a transition to a hotter, drier and more climatically variable future.