Australian leaders sign water agreement
Updated
Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, says a new agreement on the Murray Darling basin will mean the river is managed as one body for the first time.
The agreement has been signed by state and territory leaders at today's Council of Australian Government's meeting in Sydney.
The basin includes Australia's biggest river system and supports more than 40 per cent of the country's agricultural industry.
Mr Rudd says the new Murray Darling agreement, along with $US3.5 billion worth of federally-funded water projects, represents real action to save the Basin.
"Overall for the first time in the nation's history, now through a Murray Darling basin authority, a capacity to develop a whole of basin plan," he said.
"And that is absolutely essential, none of this represents a single solution to the problem, but let me tell you, we're in a far better position than we were before."
