The ministerial council agreed to review whether water recovery could actually be completed by the basin plan's 2024 deadline,and to consider a new report in an ongoing inquiry into South Australia's Lower Lakes.
The inquiry is reviewing the freshwater inflows required to keep the lakes healthy,and NSW was successful in changing the terms of reference so it considers Professor Peter Gell's argument the lakes were naturally a predominantly saltwater estuary before human intervention.
"We had movement today … to be able to consider coming back at our next ministerial council meeting with,potentially,a change in federal legislation to the[deadlines] in the plan,"Ms Pavey said.
The ministerial council requires unanimous support from all basin state ministers to approve a motion.
Victoria's Water Minister Lisa Neville added her support to NSW's tweak to the Lower Lakes inquiry,and to review the basin plan deadline.
But she rejected a request from federal Water Minister David Littleproud,which NSW backed,for state water managers to open their books to a review by interim Murray-Darling Inspector General Mick Keelty.