Canberra, ACT, 17 October 2024: The independent advisory body with statutory authority to
review Australia’s national water reform has published scathing feedback on the Federal
Governments proposed National Water Agreement, calling the approach “detrimental
to the conduct of water management in Australia”.1
The Productivity Commission who undertook three reviews of the original National Water
Initiative (NWI) and recommended its renewal, said:
“…the consequences of a shift in this direction should be considered deeply by all
governments and their communities. It is in no one’s interest to inadvertently weaken
current national water policy settings”.
“As crafted, there is a risk that they will not sufficiently drive best-practice approaches
to achieving the intent of the new agreement – putting at risk achievement of the
agreement’s objectives and outcomes.”
“To achieve this outcome, the draft principles would need to be recast.”
CEO of the National Irrigators’ Council, Zara Lowien, agrees, saying “this scathing official
feedback from the government’s own independent advisory body reflects the concerns
being raised by many stakeholders, who see the government rushing into a new draft
National Water Agreement (NWA) as a risky, backward step to Australia’s water
management,”
“The official feedback confirms why we are calling on States to say ‘no way to the NWA’,”
Ms Lowien said.
The Commission recommended that a small set of overarching principles would better
support best practice, rather than hundreds of untested principles proposed by the
Federal Government which lack any rigour.
The Commission also raised concern that the core foundations of Australia’s water
management should not be discretionary as proposed, saying this ‘greyness’ is a
backward step and poses ‘reduced certainty for business investment’ as well as
‘irreversible harm to water environments and ecosystems’.
“The Federal Government isn’t taking this renewal seriously,” said Ms. Lowien. “They are
rushing it and disregarding the original NWI’s core value as nationally agreed best-practice
blueprint for consistent water property rights and management. By stating that
the new NWA will be guiding only and not binding, they are undermining its effectiveness.”
“Why rush to sign an agreement between the Prime Minister and Premiers, if there is no
intention to enforce it? It does not make sense, nor does it match our previous experience and
reeks of poor process and politics, and is not the world-leading, best-practice policy
that it should be.”
1 Principles for a National Water Agreement (pc.gov.au)
“We agree with the Productivity Commission that this approach is not in anyone’s best
interest, particularly not in the best interest of our national water resources.”
“The Commission says that addressing their feedback ‘will enhance the strength and
guiding value of the proposed NWA to a level like its predecessors’. Suggesting the
Commission also consider this to be a backward step from the original NWI,” said Ms
Lowien.
“We are calling on the states to listen to this official advice, and stand up against the
Federal Government’s detrimental approach to Australia’s water management, and
accept nothing less than best-practice,”
“Getting it done right, is more important than getting it done before the election and we
shouldn’t accept anything less than what we have now,” said Ms Lowien.
#SayNoWayToTheNWA #NoWAy
Ends.
NB: The original intergovernmental agreement for national water was called the
National Water Initiative (NWI) signed in 2004. The Federal Government is looking to
renew and replace this with a new intergovernmental agreement, called the National
Water Agreement (NWA). We agreed to a renewal and contemporising but not a re-write of the agreement.
Link to the National Irrigators’ Council recent submission is available here