Following last week's Member Policy discussion, a Draft Position Statement on Climate Uncertainty is available for review and feedback. Feedback
is welcome by Friday 10th April. We intend to finalise this Position Statement at our April General Meeting.
REMINDER - the Blue box is the text that is agreed or voted on by Members and should be the focus of feedback. The remaining text is
background and can be updated as needed with new information without Member approval.
Following feedback and discussion, we have updated the Basin Plan snapshot document to include climate as well as, more detail on the Basin Plan 2.0 and 1.0.
Visit the Members Area to see the web version of the attached PDF.
The Productivity Commission has released the terms of reference for the tree-yearly review into National Water Reform - this inquiry is into
the National Water Initiative and its progress. The review also includes terms to look at urban water infrastructure and pricing, and
thus presents an opportunity to raise concerns with bulk water infrastructure and pricing. This is a tight timeframe, with a two-step
process for an initial submission and a final submission deadline, which is similar to the usual process, it will mean we will not see a draft report rather an initial summary. The intention is this information is available to the Minister prior to the end of 2026, to
help inform the legislative program for 2027.
NIC has requested a direct meeting with the inquiry team and we will let you know when.
Part 3 of our Submission to the MDBA's Basin Plan Review Discussion paper is the full list of MDBA options, our NIC response and our own options. This is available as a stand alone document.
The first draft of our NIC Submission to the MDBA's Basin Plan Review Discussion Paper is now available. Attached is the one document,
which includes a brief one-pager on the review. The one-pager is designed as a stand alone document for decision makers, and hence its
language is tailored accordingly. The options table is also available separately on the Members Page.
Feedback is welcomed, and I note we haven't specifically discussed northern connectivity or Menindee yet as a Membership group which will
further shape this submission (although we anticipate a separate submission for Menindee Review). We will have a Specific Member Drop
in session scheduled for this in coming weeks, to give you time to read through the submission. The submission has been written to
provide an overarching key recommendations, with a number of specific recommendations within the report - the key list is the option table
in Part 3. We aimed to have it structured to allow, local views and regional examples, to be provided.
The NIC team have uploaded and embedded a "live document" to help inform our submission development. This includes overview of issues, SDL assessment and technical issues, options analysis.
The approach aims to be transparent with the key issues for the BP Review, proposed solutions and actions. The document will be updated as
we progress through our analysis adn thinking.
The MDBA options from the discussion paper, are also presented with draft comments outlining our potential responses for the submission. In
the options tab, we have also included previously recommended NIC positions for reference.
This week, the statutory review of the Water Act 2007 (Cth) commenced. You can read the Terms of Reference and an Introductory Paper on the DCCEEW website. Consultation is now underway until July. We will discuss more at our next member drop-in session.
Following the Member policy discussion on 25 February, please see the slides from this meeting. Key discussion points were reaffirming our
positions, providing insights into our work program including our journal article on evidence to priorisation for the Basin Plan next steps a follow on from our triple crown framework, as well as our engagement and communications planing -internal and external.
The NIC provided a written, public submission into the Review into the Inspector General Water Compliance saying: "Reviewing how the
role is functioning towards these key principles is paramount as the new role matures over time, to ensure that these principles are being
met, but also that this is occurring in an effective, efficient, fit-for-purpose and proportional manner. Nothing in this submission is to question or belittle the importance of these principles – rather – to examine how they can be most effectively and efficiently served."
