NATIONAL IRRIGATORS’ COUNCIL

MEDIA RELEASES

Advocating for the Australian irrigated agriculture industry

The NIC team released the first edition of our free, monthly newsletter. 'The Current' on 31st October 2026.



In each monthly edition of our new newsletter, you will find our latest media releases, research, policy positions, and news from across our desk — starting with the stories in this first issue. October was a busy month for the National Irrigators' Council. We travelled to Canberra for our Annual General Meeting and General Meeting, where we heard from Minister Watt, The Hon. Michael McCormack MP, and David Farley MP, and decided on new policy positions. [...]

National Irrigator's Council has launched a new free monthly newsletter called 'The Current'. 

Why the name? Because current is what we’re all about: water, current affairs, and staying ahead of the flow. And right now, a lot is moving — the Basin Plan and Water Act reviews, water security, and the future of the communities that grow our food and fibre. 'The Current' is our way of cutting through the noise: the news, insights and connections that matter, delivered straight to your inbox.  Sign up on our 'Contact Us' page. 

Thank you to those Members who participated in our Policy Session on Wednesday and provided input into SDLAM submission, and to those that provided direct tracked changed. The NIC team has updated the SDLAM Reconciliation Draft Determination submission with the FINAL version now available to Members. This will be lodged prior to 1 November 2026. 

NIC team have prepared the attached draft SDLAM submission for review by Members. We re-scheduled the drop in session, to Wednesday 28th October to be used as an opportunity to discuss the submission and relevant issues online.  Alterntaively, we welcome tracked changes to the document.  The slides from the General Meeting are useful background to this submission. 

Feedback is due no later than Thursday, 29th October as submissions are due 1 October.

NIC has set up a dedicated Member Area section for our Advocacy Roadmap materials.  The first focus campaign page - Growing Australia:Moving Forward, Together that details the messaging and asks for the Water Act and Basin Plan under its time to move beyond "just adding water"  is starting to be built.  Please note the full message house and draft Basin RiverCare brochure is now available to view. 

The NIC have prepared a background 'Certinaty Uncertain: A report on water security with a variable and changing climate in the Murray Darling Basin'  to support our recently Member approved Climate Resilience and Water Security Position Statement.

We will be releasing this in early November, to lean into the many pre-meetings prior to the 2026 UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP31) in Türkiye from November 9. To do do, we are accepting FINAL feedback no later than 29th October 2026 and the earlier the better. 

As requested, the slides from our Annual General Meeting and General Meeting, including the content on SDLAM and the Advocacy Roadmap are available in the meeting documents page of the Members Area. 

We will notify members when the minutes are available. 

Irrigators say just 23 per cent of the 37,828 gigalitres of average inflows into the Murray-Darling Basin’s rivers and storages each year is being diverted for human use, with 77 per cent left in rivers, wetlands, and flood plains to support the environment.

The National Irrigators Council analysis of national water accounts, compiled by the Bureau of Meteorology from 2011 to 2025, show consumptive use has declined since the Basin plan was signed into law in 2012, when 28 per cent of the water was diverted by towns, agriculture and other industries.

“With more than three-quarters of the Basin’s available water remaining in rivers, the focus must shift from simply recovering more water to addressing the threats that are holding back river health,” NIC chief executive Zara Lowien said. (Source: The Weekly Times, by Peter Hunt)

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