On 23 July 2019, the Senate moved that the Senate Select Committee on the Multi-Jurisdictional Management and Execution of the Murray Darling Basin Plan be established to inquire and report on the following matters by 1 November 2020:
(a)
responsibilities in relation to the management and execution of the Murray Darling Basin Plan consistent with the objects of the Water Act 2007, in particular:
(i)
Commonwealth responsibilities,
(ii)
state and territory responsibilities, and
(iii)
areas of uncertainty or potential conflict in respect of responsibilities;
(b)
the effects, positive or negative or otherwise, of the different approaches of the states and territories to water resource management in the Murray Darling Basin including, but not limited to:
(i)
legislation, regulations and rules,
(iv)
management and administration, including differences in management organisations,
(v)
measuring, monitoring and compliance,
(vii)
openness and transparency;
(c)
complications in respect of basin-wide or cross jurisdiction oversight, including the oversight roles and jurisdictional limitations of:
(i)
state, territory and federal parliaments,
(ii)
state, territory and federal courts, and
(iii)
state, territory and federally-instituted inquiries and Royal Commissions;
(d)
any bill related to the Murray Darling Basin referred to the committee; and