NIC chief executive officer Isaac Jeffrey said the report set out a process for a renewed National Water Initiative against the backdrop of Australia’s highly variable rainfall patterns and forecasts of reduced inflows into river systems over coming decades.
“NIC will work to ensure that a renewed NWI is fit for purpose to enable the irrigated agriculture sector to play an important role in continuing to produce food and fibre against the pressures of climate change and the opportunities presented with projected world population growth,” Mr Jeffrey said.
“With the global demand for food and fibre increasing, and recognising that the world population forecast will exceed nine billion by 2050, Australia is well positioned to be at the forefront of this global demand, including taking up the opportunities this presents.
“The increasing demand for food and fibre and the challenge of declining water availability is driving increases in the efficiency of irrigated agriculture, enabling more water-efficient crop varieties, more precise application of water, technology enabling improved farm management practices, infrastructure and river management.
“The sector remains committed to a genuine triple bottom line outcome from water reform.
“It must be recognised however, that no reforms, whether NWI or basin plan, can in fact drought-proof a system.”
Mr Jeffrey said it was pleasing the commission recommended the following key principles in a renewed NWI:
- committing to adaptive management;
- establishing a clear process for reviewing progress on environmental outcomes;
- independently auditing the adequacy and use of environmental water entitlements every three years; and
- integrating management of environmental water and complementary natural resource management.
“This approach reflects the principle that simply meeting flow targets cannot alone deliver environmental outcomes; embedding complementary measures as part of water reform represents greater innovation through these types of interventions to improve riparian management and to support our river systems and fish habitat,” he said.
Mr Jeffrey said the commission recognised administrative processes and decisions that affected water availability (and therefore market dynamics) would benefit from increased transparency, and this included seasonal announcements around water allocations, information on carryover policies and reporting on conveyance losses and delivery impacts.
“NIC will continue to work to ensure they are fixed, to the extent that they reflect fairness and transparency so that there is rightful delivery of water to entitlement holders without incurring third party impacts.”
Mr Jeffrey said NIC highlighted with the commission opportunities to secure water supply through the National Water Grid Authority, including working strategically with regions where towns, during periods of drought, have faced water supply risk.
“We suggested this could be embedded as part of a region’s broader planning objectives, including local government playing a key role along with agriculture industries and local/regional business enterprise organisations.”
The NIC had also recommended there must be equitable distribution of the burden in response to climate-related pressures, with other water users being subject to the same standards of efficiency as the productive sector.
Read the report at: https://www.pc.gov.au/
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