The new chief executive of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, Andrew McConville, has caused consternation after sending an all-staff memo outlining his approach to the job which failed to mention the regulator’s environmental role.
A former chief executive of the Australian Petroleum Producers & Exporters Association (APPEA), McConville was appointed to the top job at the MDBA by the Morrison government just days before the federal election was called.
He is not due to start until June but recently posted a letter introducing himself to staff and explaining his approach to the job.
“I am absolutely thrilled and delighted to have been appointed the chief executive,” he said. “I have a real passion for Australian agriculture and for regional and rural Australia.
“This is not an appointment or responsibility I take lightly. The work that you do is important and in the national interest.”
The email made no mention of the environmental challenges facing the Murray-Darling Basin, climate change or other stakeholders such as First Nations people, who have been advocating for rights to cultural flows.
The omission has worried many MDBA staff – particularly those who work on the environmental side of the organisation.
McConville told staff he grew up in Armidale, got an agricultural economics degree at the University of New England and has a master’s of science from Oxford, “where I probably played too much rugby but managed to pass the time”.
He said that he spent much of his career in agriculture, focused on building productivity and resilient communities and enterprises “through collaboration with strong relationships, a commitment to sustainability and the sensible use of technology”.
McConville said he “had at least a little bit of water in my veins” as he was one of the architects of Victoria’s water trading scheme in the 1990s. He also mentioned his experience at the Australian Wheat Board and at Syngenta – a large agricultural chemicals and seed business – as well as his time at APPEA.
“Water management is a complex and contested space with many stakeholders often with competing views,” he said.
“Managing stakeholders is something I am passionate about. I have had some tough ones over the years: opponents and proponents of single desk marketing [of wheat] … pesticides and GMOs against organics, and fossil fuels in a net zero world. So how hard can it be, right!?”
McConville acknowledged he had a lot to learn and said he wanted staff to share their advice and deep knowledge of the critical river system.
A number of staff have raised their concerns about the letter and McConville’s emphasis on agricultural outcomes internally – as well as with Guardian Australia.
The MDBA was established under the Water Act 2007 to address historic overallocation of water in the Murray-Darling Basin to agriculture and restore the environmental health of the river.
It is now in the final stages of implementing the $13bn plan which is still well short of returning 2,750 gigalitres of water – the amount that states and the commonwealth agreed was the minimum required to ensure a sustainable river system. This figure is seen as inadequate by most environmental scientists.
The Act says the MDBA is “to promote the use and management of the basin water resources in a way that optimises economic, social and environmental outcomes” and “to ensure the return to environmentally sustainable levels of extraction for water resources that are over-allocated or overused”.
It is also charged with ensuring Australia meets its international obligations to protect several wetlands under the Ramsar treaty arrangements. In undertaking its task it must use the best available science to guide its decision making.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who has taken a deep interest in the Murray-Darling Basin plan, said McConville’s first letter to staff had confirmed fears about the appointment.
“Putting an oil and gas lobbyist, from Queensland, in charge of Australia’s most important river system is obscene,” Hanson-Young said. “This email introducing himself to the authority’s staff exposes the worst fears of downstream communities and those who care deeply about the health of the river.
“In a rambling, two-page, self-congratulatory memo to staff, not once did Mr McConville even mention the environment. The whole point of the MDBA is to keep the river alive and flowing, yet the new boss displays total ignorance to the needs of the environment and water security impacts of the climate crisis.
“The tone-deaf memo is a warning sign of more pain for river. With the Murray-Darling Basin plan failing to deliver the promised and needed environmental flows to South Australia, it is alarming that the guy in charge seems more interested in appeasing corporate irrigators than looking after the environment.”
Asked about the memo, McConville said there has been a great deal of interest in his appointment, which was understandable since he had come from outside government and the water, environment and agriculture sectors.
“First and foremost my job will always be to run an independent, statutory agency to deliver its remit,” he said.
“This also means listening, understanding and working collaboratively with a range of people. In doing that the goal must absolutely be a healthy and sustainable river system because we all benefit from this, it is what all Australians need and expect.”
McConville confirmed he knew the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, from university days. Both attended UNE.
“We played rugby against each other at opposing colleges some 30 years ago,” McConville said. “Since his entering politics, I have engaged with Barnaby occasionally, as I would and do with a wide range of MPs across the political spectrum.
“My relationship is not personal and is no different to any political connection I have on all sides of politics.”
In Senate estimates in April, the secretary of the agriculture, water and environment department, Andrew Metcalfe, said McConville was one of three candidates whose names were ultimately sent to the minister for a decision, which was then ratified by cabinet.
A total of 19 applications were received and a further five were identified by headhunters. McConville was one of the applicants for the $443,000 a year job.
“The panel was very satisfied as to all three candidates,” Metcalfe told estimates. “Mr McConville is certainly someone that we regarded as being a very outstanding candidate.”
