For those who rely on one of the world's largest desert river systems for their livelihoods and wellbeing, a lot is at stake as the federal government puts together Australia's first 10-year strategic vision for the Lake Eyre Basin.
First Nations people, graziers, tourism operators, and other communities have until December 5 to have their say on its future.
But there are concerns the draft plan omits important detail on what is required to properly manage the system, which spans almost a sixth of Australia's landmass.
Environmental lawyer Professor Robert Fowler is a member of the Lake Eyre Basin Community Advisory Committee (CAC) commissioned by the government to consult on community views of the basin.
Professor Fowler said the plan was inadequate and did not address the big threats facing the basin including increased tourism and fracking.
"It's written in very general terms and the feedback that I'm receiving from conservation groups is that [it] doesn't address some of the more specific challenges that are needing to be confronted with respect to the future management of the basin," Professor Fowler said.
The draft 10-year strategic plan outlines goals and objectives, as well as threats facing the Lake Eyre Basin including changes to the rivers and floodplains, land and water degradation, invasive species, tourism, mining, climate change, and social change.
The final basin strategy must be signed off by the governments of South Australia, Queensland, and the Northern Territory.
Professor Fowler believed the federal Environment Department was keeping things vague enough to ensure unanimous support.
"I think that there's a desire to tick a box by getting this plan into place," he said.
"It's an effort to avoid conflict but, in the process, it doesn't really do anything that's useful or practical."
Grazier says 'commonsense' approach needed
At Roseberth Station in south-west Queensland, grazier Geoff Morton agreed, but he believed those who relied on the land could work it out without too much government interference.
"It's fairly toothless, there's nothing dramatic in there, nothing to be controversial. It all can work, as long as we use [common] sense," Mr Morton said.
A spokesperson for the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said the proposal would be underpinned by more detailed implementation plans, which were yet to be developed.
Resilient country
Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre has all but dried up for the summer after excess water from Queensland flooding earlier in the year made the long journey to the enormous salt lake.
The Diamantina River runs through Roseberth Station and is one of three major systems that runs from North Queensland to the lake.
"Nothing's changed over the millennia, it's country that self-manages if you let it, so long as you don't overstock it," Mr Morton said.
"People say it's fragile country — it's not fragile, it's resilient.
"If you decide to misuse it, it will come back and bite you."
Mr Morton believed increasing land valuations and rate rises posed the biggest threat to the Lake Eyre Basin being over-grazed.
"The corporate world expects a return for their dollar [and] if they can see their dollar being eroded, they will do whatever they have to do to compensate for that," Mr Morton said.
"One [will] be putting more cattle on these places and the second one will be cutting costs."
'Don't have much say' on cultural heritage
Earlier this year, Origin Energy scrapped plans to frack on the Queensland side of the Lake Eyre Basin.
Mithaka elder George Gorringe, who has been an advisory committee member for two terms, doubted it would be the last energy company showing interest in the area.
He said, under the draft plan, First Nations communities did not have any real power to stop oil and gas exploration on culturally significant sites.
"If you don't have native title over it you pretty well don't have much say at all, and if you have native title it's very limited," he said.
"The only rights you have are hunting, fishing et cetera. You don't have any rights [to] veto anything, as far as I can understand.
"Why are they talking to us if we can't have that stuff?"
The draft plan outlines five objectives included in the goal of celebrating Aboriginal culture and knowledge "for the benefit of both the basin's communities and the environment".
The department spokesperson said cultural heritage would be considered in the objectives.
"I think it will be [taken on board] because the secretariat is [giving] good feedback," Mr Gorringe said.
"I think we've got a good chance of making changes."
Results from the public survey are due to be released early in 2023, with the final Lake Eyre Basin Strategic Plan due in mid-2023.
