The chairman of the Murray Darling Basin Authority has rejected reports that it failed to act on allegations of water theft in New South Wales.
But Neil Andrew agreed that the organisation might not have enough authority to force compliance.
The Guardian reported this week that the authority had satellite evidence of possible water theft in NSW months before a damning our Corners investigation revealed similar concerns, but had believed it to be flawed.
Mr Andrew said Data Cube satellite data indicating possible water theft from the Barwon River was not conclusive enough to prosecute anyone.
The authority is overseeing the $10 billion dollar plan to return water to the struggling Murray-Darling Basin.
The Data Cube technology was designed to track environmental flows in the Murray-Darling Basin, but was not intended to monitor water theft.
However, Mr Andrew said the data had been forwarded to federal and state authorities for consideration.
"The Data Cube information did in fact give us an insight, into the [possible water theft] problems, that's quite right," Mr Andrews said..
Mr Andrew said he did not know to what extent the NSW or federal governments followed up on the Data Cube findings after their received it.
The chief executive officer of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Ms Kelly O'Shannessy, said more action was needed beyond passing the information on to state authorities.
"When pastures and crops are greener than they ought to be, then something is amiss," she said.
"We are not sure we can trust anyone involved in this process. We need strong institutions to govern the Murray-Darling Basin," Ms O'Shannessy said.
Mr Andrew admitted the authority had limited powers to force compliance.
"It is no more frustrating for me than it is for each one of the state governments if they believe other state governments aren't complying," he said.
"Effectively compliance is vested in the states. The constitution ensures that is the way it will stay, but there is now a dramatically enhanced recognition of the importance of compliance by all of the state agencies.
"Is it fair to say are we an authority with too little authority? Well, perhaps, but we are an authority whose job it is to create a basin plan.
Mr Andrew said the authority had successfully implemented a plan for the basin that was on schedule.
''I would have thought that every irrigator and community is grateful for the sustainability the basin plan will offer," he said.
Despite the authority being aware of possible water theft in July 2016 and passing on the data to authorities, it wasn't until Four Corners revealed allegations of possible water theft in July this year that there was any action.
There are now five inquires underway at various Commonwealth and State levels covering compliance issues, including the MDBA's internal compliance review.
The Greens have stepped up calls for a royal commission into allegations of water theft in the Murray-Darling.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the reviews announced by the Federal Government and NSW Government did not go far enough.
"I'm very cynical about the Murray-Darling Basin Authority investigating itself, I'm very cynical about the NSW Government investigating itself," she said.
''What we now need urgently is a royal commission."
Mr Andrew rejected suggestions that the authority should not be conducting an internal review.
"We think what we are doing is entirely appropriate because we have an independent group investigating what has happened,'' he said.
He said the authority would be reporting to the Council of Australian Governments, not than to itself.
.jpg?w=600)
