MEDIA RELEASES

17 Oct

IGWC released the 2023-2024 metering report card, providing an overview of how Basin States are progressing national metering standards. The report looks provides a snapshot of the progression towards AS4747 meters with NSW increasing their coverage of AS4747 meters, just behind Victoria which has the highest number. The report card does highlight the areas where NSW and QLD are still using estimates for water take, although these percentages are expected to decline with the roll-out of floodplain harvesting metering which has only just began. 

It is important to note that the report card refers to productive/commercial extraction of water, and therefore does not report on environmental water measurement. 

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15 Oct

This update relates to persons or classes of people required to report water market information under the Australian Government water market regulation - this can be IIOs and water intermediaries.

DCCEEW are seeking feedback on the Exposure Drafts for the proposed Water Amendment (Water Markets Information) Regulations 2026 (Regulations) and the Water Market Data Standards.  These form the final pieces of the water market reform roadmap and are due for implementation in 2026.

Exposure drafts and a survey for feedback are provided on the webpage.

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7 Oct

On Monday 22nd September Matt Coulton from Ricardo provided Members a presentation on Climate Risks and Water Policy implications in the MDB.  The presentation slides are attached for your information.

A recording of the first half of the presentation is temporarily available here via teams. The second part of the presentation was discussion and engagement with Matt which was not recorded to encourage open discussion. 

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3 Oct

The NIC Board needs your help - they are seeking feedback from Members regarding the 2026 Meeting schedule.  The NIC Board is considering two options for our annual meeting schedule. We want to ensure maximum value from meeting face to face for discussions and networking, and balance this with resourcing of NIC and Members to travel.  Please complete via this survey (takes 3 mins) prior to Wednesday 10th October!!

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26 Sep

NIC provided a submission into Feeding Australian: A national food security discussion paper.  We stated "A national food security strategy must consider Australia’s food sovereignty as well as, our role in the future food security needs of our trading partners; to achieve this, a national water security strategy for agriculture will be needed to underpin it. Water is a critical input into agricultural production, and the objectives of this strategy cannot be achieved in the absence of agricultural water security". We provided six recommendations for consideration in developing the national strategy. 

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26 Sep

NIC has completed our own internal review into the Murray Darling Basin Plan, which is a series of papers addressing the key themes of the 2024 Early Insights paper using the recently published “Triple Crown of Water Reform Framework” to highlight possible next steps for the Basin Plan.  We hope to help forge a future pathway that embraces the paradigm shift needed for the Basin that is more about a 'plan of management' than the current ‘water recovery plan’ focus.  The review addresses; regulatory design, sustainable water limits, climate change, environment, agriculture and community and contemporary issues.   
We encourage stakeholders to reach out to discuss these papers, the evidence, our findings and recommendations. 

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23 Sep

A Draft Submission into the National Food Security Strategy Discussion Paper is available for review.  Please send any feedback via tracked changes if possible through to Christine or Zara.  This is due Wednesday, 24th September.

The discussion paper is available via DAFF here. 

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15 Sep

 Today's release of the National Climate Risk Assessment and National Adaptation Plan exposes the risks to Australia’s agriculture sector from climate change, particularly water security for irrigation to grow food and fibre. “Climate change poses a very real risk to irrigated agriculture,” said NIC CEO, Zara Lowien. [...]

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10 Sep

Irrigation Australia Limited's Spring Journal features our CEO, Zara Lowien's comments on the 2025 Basin Plan Evaluation (on page 32-35) indicating there were plenty of first the MDBA's 'game changing' 2025 evaluation but what does it mean for the irrigation industry.  Zara highlighted the opportunity before Minister Watt has to work collaboratively with communities and industry on a much-needed reset, that looks to refocus the Basin Plan on outcomes rather than numbers. 

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