POLICY PORTFOLIO - WATER LAW AND PLANNING

Key Elements of Australian Water Law and Planning

Australia's foundational document for water law and planning is arguably the National Water Initiative which was agreed in 2004 as an intergovernmental agreement after more than a decade of discussions from the first Council of Australian Governments meeting in 1994.  States and Territories agreed in 2004 to implement 10 objectives and complete more than 110 actions to implement the agreement, including the creation of state water management law, which is how the NWI become the blueprint for Australian water management. 

"23 Objectives:
Full implementation of this Agreement will result in a nationally-compatible, market, regulatory and planning based system of managing surface and groundwater resources for rural and urban use that optimises economic, social and environmental outcomes by achieving the following: 

i. clear and nationally-compatible characteristics for secure water access entitlements;

ii. transparent, statutory-based water planning;

iii. statutory provision for environmental and other public benefit outcomes, and improved environmental management practices;

iv. complete the return of all currently overallocated or overused systems to environmentally-sustainable levels of extraction;

v. progressive removal of barriers to trade in water and meeting other requirements to facilitate the broadening and deepening of the water market, with an open trading market to be in place;

vi. clarity around the assignment of risk arising from future changes in the availability of water for the consumptive pool;

vii. water accounting which is able to meet the information needs of different water systems in respect to planning, monitoring, trading, environmental management and on-farm management;

viii. policy settings which facilitate water use efficiency and innovation in urban and rural areas;

ix. addressing future adjustment issues that may impact on water users and communities; and

x. recognition of the connectivity between surface and groundwater resources and connected systems managed as a single resource."

In 2007, a Commonwealth Water Act to address environmental concerns and further support consistency of management in the Murray Darling Basin was forged.  It is Australia's primary legislation that concerns the Commonwealth Government's powers over the Murray–Darling Basin and enables the establishment of the Murray Darling Basin Plan, and assciated beauracraces of the Murray Darling Basin Authority, the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and the Inspector General Water Compliance to implement and enforce the plan. 

The Act's objectives  include the management of the Basin's water resources, addressing threats to the Basin, promoting the environmentally, economically and socially sustainable use of the Basin's resources, conservation of the Basin ecosystem, maximising the economic benefit to the Basin communities, and improving water security.

KEY MESSAGE

The National Irrigators' Council respects that in Australia we strive for national consistency in the creation and ongoing accountability and transparency of managing water property rights that  clearly define a right to access a share of water which is exclusive, secure and tradable.