The basin plan was developed to ensure water could be sustainably shared between the people who use it and the environment.
The authority is required to do a review of the plan 10 years after it was implemented.
The discussion paper calls for feedback before the May 1 deadline.
Speaking to the media this week, MDBA chief executive Andrew McConville said the authority would be visiting basin communities over the next few months.
Mr McConville emphasised that the contents of the discussion paper were not decisions but were designed to stimulate feedback to guide the future direction of the plan.
“Through the discussion paper, the authority has explored progress that has been made to date and considered some of the issues and challenges for the basin as we look forward over the next decade,” he said.
“The basin plan has delivered real benefits, and we are starting to see improvements in some of the basin’s most important rivers and wetlands.
“But the evidence is also clear that climate change, ageing infrastructure, disconnected floodplains, declining native fish and poor water quality mean we need to do some things differently.”
A copy of the discussion paper can be downloaded from the MDBA website: mdba.gov.au/publications-and-data/publications/2026-basin-plan-review-discussion-paper
National Irrigators’ Council chief executive Zara Lowien said the discussion paper should serve as an important wake-up call to the Federal Government, which she said continued to use old tools for today’s challenges.
“The paper found that most sustainable diversion limits are meeting environmental outcomes and further investigation would be needed in some areas to consider the complexity of environmental drivers other than water flows — again signalling the need for a new approach, beyond 'just adding water' for the basin,” Ms Lowien said.
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