The Murray Darling Basin is Australia's largest and most complicated river system, running through four states, and dozens of towns and cities.
In 2012, after years of overuse and a devastating millennium drought, a 12 year plan was created to restore and manage the basin under then Water Minister Tony Burke.
More than ten years on, the current Minister Tanya Plibersek says it's time to revise the strategy.
"The plan has been off track now for a number of years. The previous government deliberately delayed - and I would say even sabotaged - the Murray Darling Basin plan. When I asked the Murray Darling Basin Authority recently for advice on whether the plan could be delivered on time [[by original deadline June 2024]], I was confirmed in my worst fears that in fact the plan wouldn't be delivered on time and that we needed to find a new way forward."
The federal government says the recovery of 450 gigalitres of water will now be completed by the end of 2027, and water infrastructure projects by the end of 2026, under a new agreement with most of the Murray Darling Basin states.
The new plan limits the amount of water that can be extracted from the basin, and includes more options and funding to deliver the remaining water, such as through voluntary buybacks.
Tanya Plibersek says it was important to get an agreement in place before environmental conditions took a turn for the worse.
"We're way behind - way behind - where we should be. We're way off track for delivery... The Murray Darling Basin Plan is an incredible piece of cooperation between the Commonwealth and the Murray Darling basin states and the ACT. It came out of a period of environmental catastrophe, and it's designed to avoid another environmental catastrophe. We know that south east Australia in particular is getting hotter and drier, and although we've had a few wet years recently, we know the next drought is just around the corner."
But not everyone is on board.
Greens South Australian senator Sarah Hanson Young says the deal doesn't go far enough, or hard enough.
"This is an agreement to kick the can down the road, an agreement that does not guarantee water return to the river in a time that will save it. It doesn't guarantee the promised water for South Australia, the 450 gigalitres."
Victoria is also unhappy with the plan.
It's the only Murray Darling basin state not to sign on to the new agreement, with Water Minister Harriet Shing saying nothing in the new deal changes their opposition to water buybacks.
She says the state would support the return of water to the environment only if it met agreed socio-economic requirements.
Tanya Plibersek says it's in the interests of Victoria to change its mind.
"The states that have agreed will get more time to deliver the water saving projects that they're engaged in. They'll get more money to deliver those projects, and also if there are social and economic impacts in their communities, those state governments will have funding to support those communities... My door will be open if they've got other projects that they want to bring forward, if they've got other ways of delivering on the objectives of the Murray Darling Basin Plan. I think that it's very clear that with more time and potentially very substantial additional funding that this is an excellent deal for states."
The federal Minister has declined to outline how much money would be made available for water buybacks, arguing that information would have the potential to distort the market.
She says instead the government will push ahead with tabling legislation in the coming weeks for the revised Murray Darling Basin plan, with both houses expected to sit for two weeks from September 4.
But for Sarah Hanson Young, support is anything but guaranteed.
"I'll go through that legislation with a fine tooth comb. I want to work constructively to make sure we can get a deal that saves the river, and a deal that delivers that promised water for South Australia. But right now, what we've got from the Minister is simply words."
That story by Deborah Groarke for SBS News, produced by (in language broadcaster) for SBS (in language program)
