The Lower River Murray has been listed by the Federal Government under national environmental law following a recommendation from the Threatened Species Scientific Committee.
The environmental listing will cover the region from where the Murray meets the Darling River in NSW, along the Victorian border and through to South Australia.
It will include waterways, flood plains, wetlands and vegetation.
The listing will not stop the region’s farmers from carrying out regular tasks, the government said.
The Lower Murray was previously briefly listed as endangered after the Abbott government repealed the Rudd government's 2013 designation.
The listing was an “alarm bell” rather than a win and all Australians should be shocked at the health of the river, Nature Conservation Council of NSW said.
“This listing gives Australia a second chance to do the right thing ... now governments must prove they are serious about saving the Murray,” chief executive Jacqui Mumford said.
“(It) is only meaningful if governments deliver the environmental water as promised, stop approvals that worsen damage and invest in real restoration on the ground.”
The committee’s recommendation for the endangered listing stated the area had faced pressures from changes in water flow, invasive species and the loss of native vegetation — threats compounded by climate change.
The listing would allow for a co-ordinated response from all levels of government to protect the area, Environment Minister Murray Watt said.
“Despite the efforts of governments and communities, the Lower Murray remains under great stress, and we need to do more to protect it and restore it,” Senator Watt said.
Senator Watt said the listing would not prevent farmers from conducting regular tasks on properties in the region.
Major developments proposed for the Lower Murray would require a more rigorous assessment of their environmental impact.
“Impacts from upstream river management decisions taken last century, along with the devastating impacts of natural events like the millennium drought, have placed enormous pressure on ecological communities in this section of the southern basin,” Senator Watt said.
The National Farmers’ Federation said the area was already too tightly regulated and the listing would create “unnecessary duplicative complexity”.
“We're still trying to understand the detail of this decision, but right now it’s unclear why more red tape is needed,” the federation's water committee chair Malcolm Holm said.
The National Farmers’ Federation does not support the Federal Government’s decision to list the Murray River and associated systems as a Critically Endangered ecological community under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
NFF Water Committee chair Malcolm Holm said the listing added another layer of complexity to an already heavily regulated system, without clear environmental benefit.
“The Murray River corridor is already one of the most tightly regulated landscapes in the country,” Mr Holm said.
“Adding an EPBC listing on top of the Basin Plan and existing state and federal laws creates unnecessary duplicative complexity and will potentially interfere with existing water regulatory processes.
“We’re still trying to understand the detail of this decision, but right now it’s unclear why more red tape is needed when we have existing mechanisms like the Basin Plan and Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, or if this will compromise the Basin Plan Review.”
Mr Holm said that a far better approach would be to nominate European carp as a Key Threatening Process.
“If the government is serious about biodiversity outcomes, it should start with the real curse in the system — carp.
“Declaring carp a Key Threatening Process and properly funding control and eradication would deliver far greater environmental gains than another listing.”
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