Lower Murray Water (LMW) has begun a ten-day hearing to propose a plan to artificially engineer two Murray River wetland sites along the Victorian and New South Wales border.
Minister for Planning Sonya Kilkenny appointed the Victorian Murray Floodplain Restoration Project (VMFRP) Standing Inquiry and Advisory Committee (SIAC) to inquire into, and report on, the potential environmental effects of nine proposed restoration projects.
Those projects include the sites at Hattah and Belsar-Yungera floodplains.
The SIAC heard from three of the proponent's heavyweights, including LMW barrister Christopher Townshend, who said environmental benefits and improved policy were at the heart of the project.
"The backbone for the project and hearing is aligned with Country, ecological and cultural values," he said.
"This is a project that is wholly committed to improve the health of ecosystems, and places and country that has been undernourished and struggling since European intervention in the river and its surroundings.
"Restoration can be achieved, but certainly the improvement of the health of the ecology must be hand-in-hand and seen as logically linked to enhancing places and ecology that is valued in cultural terms as well."
A spokesperson for Environmental Justice Australia said they worried the proposal would give more water to big irrigators at the cost of communities and environment.
"The committee hearing into the Victorian government proposal at Hattah Lakes North and Belsar-Yungera sites on the Murray River in Victoria's northwest, is part of the EES process," they said.
"These are among proposals at nine sites along the river the Victorian government is rushing through to artificially engineer the Murray's flow.
"Environmental Justice Australia, representing Environment Victoria, hold concerns this will allow big irrigators to pump more water out of the already stressed river.
"In fact, some of these proposals may not be needed if other, overdue plans to improve river health were fully implemented."
Robust framework
Mr Townshend said the proposal could be summarised in five central themes.
Firstly, he said the opportunity for environmental watering of the Hattah and Belsar-Yungera floodplains was beneficial to the environment, and that the project was an acceptable outcome supported by policy.
Secondly he said the scheme was consistent with environmental risks, benefits and natural circumstances, therefore aligned with acceptable outcomes.
Thirdly, he said the proposal had been extensively assessed for potential environmental impacts and accounted for worst-case scenarios in the EES.
He said the identification process was instrumental in informing the implementation phase of construction, and the operation of the projects, consistent with upholding ecological and cultural values.
Finally, he said the proponent possesses a robust framework for the construction and operation of the projects as supported by federal and state statutory water regimes.
The committee will hear from experts on aquaculture, flora and fauna and bushfire experts from Thursday, January 19.
The VMFRP is delivered under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan by LMW, Goulburn-Murray Water, Mallee and North Central Catchment Management Authorities, Parks Victoria and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
Funding has been provided by the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
