NATIONAL IRRIGATORS’ COUNCIL

MEDIA RELEASES

Advocating for the Australian irrigated agriculture industry

The NIC team have uploaded and embedded a "live document" to help inform our submission development.  This includes overview of issues, SDL assessment and technical issues, options analysis.

The approach aims to be transparent with the key issues for the BP Review, proposed solutions and actions. The document will be updated as we progress through our analysis adn thinking.  

The MDBA options from the discussion paper, are also presented with draft comments outlining our potential responses for the submission.  In the options tab, we have also included previously recommended NIC positions for reference. 

This week, the statutory review of the Water Act 2007 (Cth) commenced. You can read the Terms of Reference and an Introductory Paper on the DCCEEW website. Consultation is now underway until July. We will discuss more at our next member drop-in session. 

Following the Member policy discussion on 25 February, please see the slides from this meeting. Key discussion points were reaffirming our positions, providing insights into our work program including our journal article on evidence to priorisation for the Basin Plan next steps a follow on from our triple crown framework, as well as our engagement and communications planing -internal and external. 

The NIC provided a written, public submission into the Review into the Inspector General Water Compliance saying: "Reviewing how the role is functioning towards these key principles is paramount as the new role matures over time, to ensure that these principles are being met, but also that this is occurring in an effective, efficient, fit-for-purpose and proportional manner. Nothing in this submission is to question or belittle the importance of these principles – rather – to examine how they can be most effectively and efficiently served."

A working draft of our proposed submission to the Independent Review of the Inspector General of Water Compliance, is available here. During this weeks Policy Discussion, feedback was received but not yet fully incorporated.  This is at the end of the submission and will be incorporated next week. 

Please review the working draft and provide any feedback to Christine by the end of next week, a further draft will then be circulated prior to finalising for submission on 25 February 2026.

NIC team have prepared an updated briefing note for Members on the MDBA Discussion Paper and provided some guidance on key areas to question from the MDBA during consultation roundtables next week.
Consideration of additional messages is underway, pending feedback following the consultation sessions. 

The powerpoint slides from the 11 February NIC Member Policy Discussion on the Review of the Inspector General of Water Compliance role and the initial analysis of the Basin Plan Review Discussion paper are available here.

As part of Basin Plan Review communication and information sharing, our first of our weekly Q&A sessions were held today.  These session are held every Tuesday at 1pm. See attached the slides.

Question and themes asked, will be generated into the live issues list and discussed in Policy Sessions, as scheduled every second Wednesday. 

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