![Border professor claims there is a "disconnect" between water buyback concerns and the actual legislation. Picture by James Wiltshire Border professor claims there is a "disconnect" between water buyback concerns and the actual legislation. Picture by James Wiltshire](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/205593064/852548bd-645e-478f-af72-4dda40ec0979.jpg/r0_0_4888_3259_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The concept that water buybacks will destroy regional communities is false, a Border professor has said.
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Dr Tim Clune, senior lecturer in management at La Trobe University's Business School, has defended the government's amendments to the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
"I don't think you can link the changes proposed in the legislation to the catastrophic outcomes proposed in the protests," he said.
"That's really more about concerns being voiced by loud voices, not necessarily shared voices or informed voices.
"They're related to a whole range of other things, concerns about broader regional development and a whole range of things that sit outside the plan."
Dr Clune explained that, if the legislation goes through, there is no guarantee that the 450 gigalitres proposed in the plan will be recovered through buybacks.
"What the removal of the cap does is provide the opportunity that in the event other commitments aren't fulfilled, there is the tool of fulfilling that gap through buybacks," he said.
The majority of the water recovered under the plan will be delivered to South Australia.
Dr Clune said this "is a well run argument in the sense that it's had a lot of time in the media, but time will tell".
"The 450 gigalitres is an accounting tool, and so it's not something that you're going to drop in the river at Albury and collect at the Murray mouth," he said.
"It will be delivered at different times under different river conditions.
"We have professionals up and down the river who make decisions as to when the water will be delivered and how it will be delivered."
Dr Clune emphasised that water buybacks are only one part of the proposed legislation.
"I think it's important that we don't lose sight of the fact that the proposed legislative changes are about delivering the Basin Plan in full," he said.
"But they're also about strengthening water management in the basin and recognising some of the challenges that have been identified, particularly around water markets, the transparency of those markets and the integrity of those markets.
"But also the engagement of First Nations in the Basin."
Dr Clune is currently working on a project led by La Trobe and Griffith University, funded by the MDBA.