It's not perfect but implementing Murray-Darling plan in full can work | Jamie Pittock

Rivers will be lost, Indigenous communities and pastoral and tourism industries affected if not enough water is returned

The latest proposal to cut 605bn litres of water from flowing down the Murray-Darling river system will test the nation's faith in water reform.

Transparency, accountability, trust: these have sadly gone missing from the nation's plan for the health of the river system. Allegations of water theft, inequity for downstream communities and poor governance have all shaken the foundations of faith in the plan that state and federal governments agreed to in 2012.