Albanese Government’s draft water agreement declared 'Detrimental to the conduct of water management in Australia' by the Productivity Commission
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:
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“…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.”
"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.
Media Contact: Zara Lowien, CEO National Irrigators’ Council
0427521399
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.
[1] Principles for a National Water Agreement (pc.gov.au)
Our submission is available via the Submission page.