On Friday December 14th the Minister for Environment and Water, Hon. David Speirs MP, announced a new agreement between the Murray-Darling Basin Ministers to help get the iconic Coorong back on track and restore the health of the South Lagoon. 

The agreement follows recommendations within the Coorong Summit Summary Report and the Goyder Expert Panel Report which outlined a series of short, medium and long-term actions to restore the South Lagoon. These reports will form the basis for new Healthy Coorong, Healthy Basin Action Plan which is expected to be finalised before mid-2019.

The Minister announced that:

• $70 million of unallocated South Australian State Priority Project (SPP) funds will be made available for measures to support the long-term health of the Coorong identified in the Healthy Coorong, Healthy Basin Action Plan. 
• Of the $70 million, up to $2 million is being released immediately to support the Commonwealth and South Australian Governments to develop the Healthy Coorong, Healthy Basin Action Plan. 
• Subject to the evaluation of the Healthy Coorong, Healthy Basin Action Plan, $25 million will be made available to deliver phase 1 of the Action Plan. 

In addition, Murray-Darling Basin Ministers agreed to on-farm projects being included as part of a suite of efficiency measures to deliver the 450 GL environmental water, with additional socio-economic criteria agreed to ensure that communities benefit from this investment as well as the environment. This is another important step for improving the health of the Coorong and other important ecosystems in the Basin. As part of this, the Commonwealth will fund a study to look at the use of Adelaide’s desalination plant.

The Goyder Institute welcomes the fast action on its recommendations and looks forward to continuing to work with State and Federal governments to help restore and protect this national treasure.

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