NATIONAL IRRIGATORS’ COUNCIL

MEDIA RELEASES

Advocating for the Australian irrigated agriculture industry

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. 

The MDBA has been working with River Murray governments to collate and prepare background information on the historical and current operation and management arrangements for Menindee Lakes and the associated challenges and opportunities in operating and managing the Menindee Lakes into the future.  A technical review and issues paper have been released for information to inform the Basin Plan Review. 

Legalwise is again holding their annual Water Law Symposium in Sydney.
As water law continues to evolve in response to environmental challenges, policy reform and heightened regulatory scrutiny, secure expert guidance on key legal and strategic issues shaping Australia’s water governance framework. You will gain insights into the lessons of the past decade in water reform, the intersection of Indigenous rights and governance, and the design of the Basin Plan Review. 

A first look at the Murray Darling Basin Authority’s Basin Plan Review discussion paper, reveals again that more is needed than “just adding water” to improve the environments of the Basin. “The discussion paper should serve as an important wake up call to the Federal Government who continue to use old tools, for today’s challenges”, said NIC CEO, Zara Lowien.[...]

The MDBA have opened registrations for a series of webinars to support their consultation approach on the Basin Plan Review. The initial topics being how to make a submission, Menindee and SDL assessments. The webinars will be recorded and start from Monday next week. 

A link on these webinars is not yet available on their website but is available by clicking here. 

We have set up a new  Members only page on our website with all the information you need on the Basin Plan Review.

Reminder, you will need to have set up your Member sign in to access the page and all the information. 

The Department are reviewing the role of the Inspector-General of Water Compliance, to ensure it continues to add value to the management of the Murray Darling Basin.

This review is a requirement of the Water Act 2007 and must be completed by 30 June 2026.

Independent reviewers have been appointed.  A survey and or submissions are due by 25 February 2026.

The NIC Board are wanting to undertake a mid-term review of the performance and value of NIC, since the adoption of the new Strategic Plan and membership changes.  To inform this process, the Board are seeking views from Members and other targeted stakeholders on NIC performance, and how we represent the industry to Members and external stakeholders. 

A brief survey has been set up providing you and your organisation an opportunity to provide input and feedback to the Board.  It should take up to 10 minutes depending on your desired level of input.  The Survey will be open until 6th February 2026.

As always, please feel free to reach out to any of the Directors or Zara with feedback and input. 

“Today’s announcement is just smoke and mirrors by the Albanese Government,” said National Irrigators’ Council CEO, Zara Lowien. “Listing these areas [parts of Murray Basin floodplain] only adds complexity, creates uncertainty for new developments, overlooks the progress of the Basin Plan and offers no new solutions.” [...]

Office Closure

We're taking a short break to refuel and get ready for 2026.

The NIC Office will be closed from Monday, 22nd December 2025 until Monday 5th January 2026.

Ministerial Council update

On the 12th December, a national Water Minister's meeting and Murray Darling Basin Water Minister's meeting were held - these are known as MinCo meetings. 

The national meeting, discussed the preparation and next steps of a renewed National Water Initiative and progress on water efficiency standards, as well as, risks pertaining to increased demands on water including water for data centres (in our view any new demands for water should be found from new sources, or through existing markets).  The communique is available here.

The MDB meeting, discussed progress on the Basin Plan and concerns regarding SDLAM projects. There was no direction mention of constraints, however some discussion on a strategic approach to SDLAM projects. The communiqué is available here.

 NIC report reviewed the Federal Government’s purchases and found most have low environmental utility and cannot directly contribute to today’s environmental priorities in the Basin – despite costing taxpayers billions.“These additional water buybacks go beyond what was required to ‘bridge the gap’ to get Sustainable Diversion Limits in place for the Basin Plan,” said NIC CEO Zara Lowien “most of this additional water will not be able to be used as intended and unlikely to contribute to desired environmental outcomes”. [...]

There have been several concerns raised regarding the Federal Government’s decision to purchase additional water from farmers that go beyond the water recovery required to ‘bridge the gap’ to reduce water usage to Sustainable Diversion Limits (SDLs), in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. The concerns relate to the effectiveness or need for additional water acquisition, with questions on how the Government’s actions are contributing to policy outcomes, meeting value for taxpayers’ money, and consider the growing evidence that signals alternatives approach to ‘just adding water’ are needed to enhance environmental outcomes around the Basin.

This Report by NIC, provides a preliminary assessment of the Federal Government purchases of additional water under “the 450 GL” program of the Plan. [...]

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