Water for the Future

Government action

Council of Australian Governments water reform

Shepparton Weir, Victoria

Shepparton Weir, Victoria

Photo John Baker

COAG 2008 forward work program on water

In December 2007 COAG established working groups to implement its work agenda on a range of priority issues. Minister Wong is chairing the Working Group on Climate Change and Water. Other members of the Working Group are officials from the states and territories and a representative from the Australian Local Government Association. The Working Group has been asked to provide COAG with proposals to ensure sustainable water use across Australia, as well as on climate change issues.

Based on a comprehensive stocktake report on the progress of water reform, the Working Group recommended a forward work program to COAG on water which was agreed at the 26 March COAG meeting. The work program will develop concrete actions on high priority water management issues in both rural and urban Australia, including accelerating commitments previously made under the National Water Initiative. The four priority areas are:

COAG has commissioned a number of projects in the above priority areas:

COAG Water Reform Framework achievements

During 1994, in response to concern about the state of many of Australia's river systems, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) developed a national policy for the efficient and sustainable reform of Australia's rural and urban water industries.

The Water Reform Framework proposed an integrated approach to address environmental degradation of river systems including strategies such as:

In June 2004, the COAG extended the Water Reform Framework through the National Water Initiative.

A key triumph of the Water Reform Framework to date has been the fact that through it, the needs of the environment are genuinely becoming recognised in water use decisions. Governments generally are stopping new water allocations from overused rivers and aquifers and they are no longer building dams that are ecologically unsustainable. Water management plans are being developed that provide for environmental flows in both surface and groundwater and aim to preserve ecologically significant environments. These reforms combined with other initiatives such as the Natural Heritage Trust are helping to address the widespread degradation of our precious land and water resources.

While progress in implementing the reforms at the institutional level has varied amongst the jurisdictions, the achievements so far should not be underestimated. Policy and institutional settings are now significantly different from those in 1994 when the COAG agreed to the Water Reform Framework. A major step towards implementation has been the introduction of institutional and legislative changes to lay the groundwork for the reforms.

There remain some significant challenges to the Water Reform Framework's goals of establishing an integrated and consistent approach to water resource management throughout Australia. First, and foremost, more progress is needed in determining environmental flow requirements and allocations. This requires a good information base and effective processes for community involvement. Additionally, the time and complexity involved in such legislative change has in some instances been greater than expected, but the implementation of appropriate legislation provides an important pathway for maintaining the momentum of reform.

See also

Key

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