NATIONAL IRRIGATORS’ COUNCIL

MEDIA RELEASES

Advocating for the Australian irrigated agriculture industry

Special Resolutions for July GM

On 26 June, members would have received an email with notice of two Special Resolutions for the upcoming General Meeting on 17th July 2025. 

These include:

(a) A renewed Position Statement, retitled ‘Enabling Cultural objectives in water management’; and

(b)  A new Position Statement on the Reliability of Water Entitlements.

We remind members that the General Meeting is for voting purposes only (on the blue box text), and no amendments can be made, now this notice of special resolution has been issued. We thank those who have been involved in the design and review of these proposed policy position statements.

Preparing for the 2025 MDBP Evaluation

We are preparing for the publication of the 2025 MDBP Evaluation, anticipated for mid-late July. 

Given we may have some problematic socio-economic findings ('no measurable impact'), we are encouraging members to start preparing data. The Evaluation is done at a Basin-scale, which means community and industry level impacts are smoothed over. This means, it will be a critical time for us to have data to put on the table to stop an inaccurate or non-representative narrative forming. 

We will be sending further information around shortly, including with key messages, to help us all get prepared.

In the meantime, some examples of the types of data we encourage you to start pulling together (and share with us), includes:

  • How much does your region/commodity contribute to GDP (most recent value, note trend will be upwards)
  • Has the area of irrigated production declined? Is there a trend (Note MDBA calculated this as part of their studies)
  • What is the population trend over time, can this be mapped to buybacks?
  • What did the MDBA’s own community reports say about your community?
  • Does a reduction in school age children match a reduction in education employment or other trend?
  • What industry is the largest employer?
Some key data sources to get started:
* Census Data
* S Basin Community Profiles :https://www.mdba.gov.au/publications-and-data/publications/southern-basin-community-profiles
* N Basin SE Conditions: https://www.mdba.gov.au/publications-and-data/publications/northern-basin-review-social-and-economic-condition-reports 

The Federal Government announced their invitation to Tenderers who hold eligible groundwater rights in the Queensland (Qld) Condamine-Balonne catchment to submit a tender, for the sale of those water rights (either whole or in part), to the Australian Government under Bridging the Gap. This is for  up to 3.2 GL/y (long-term diversion limit equivalence; LTDLE) of groundwater comprising: 

• 0.25 GL/y from the Qld Upper Condamine Alluvium (Central Condamine Alluvium); and 

• 2.95 GL/y from the Qld Upper Condamine Alluvium (Tributaries). 

A draft of our Consultation Expectations Guideline is now available for member feedback.

From our drop-in discussions, it was suggested that this forms a guideline to explain what we mean by good consultation, rather than a 'policy position' as such - but we want to hear from you on that! 

You will see that this includes some key principles of our expectations, a scorecard to review consultations (linked to the principles), and our commitments when engaging.

We intend to do a test of this scorecard, to develop some case studies of applying it in practice - stay tuned, and we will publish an updated version shortly (shared via our policy updates page in the members area). 

This week, Dairy Australia released the first of its kind report using new independent, evidence-based, modelling has found continued water buybacks under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan (MDBP) pose a severe, disproportionate, and avoidable risk to the entire dairy supply chain and the region communities they sustain.

The results are clear and alarming: water buybacks, as currently proposed, are not just a policy tool – they threaten the viability of an entire industry. Under two plausible buyback scenarios - the recovery of 302GL and 683GL - the analysis shows:
* reduced water availability
* significant increases in water prices
* sharp declines in farmgate milk production
* farm viability risks
* heightened risk of dairy processor closures, and
* community and supply chain impact.

Seeking member feedback on our draft position statement on Enabling Cultural Objectives in Water Management.

This forms part of our Policy Platform Update, and was developed following member discussion at our drop-ins - see page on members areas for more information, and to see all current drafts as they are updated. 

Reminder - this is now the time to have your say in the design and development of our policy positions, we cannot make changes on voting day at the General Meeting. 

Seeking member feedback on our draft position statement on reliability of water entitlements. 

This forms part of our Policy Platform Update, and was developed following member discussion at our drop-ins - see page on members areas for more information. 

Reminder - this is now the time to have your say in the design and development of our policy positions, we cannot make changes on voting day at the General Meeting. 

Draft submission on the MDBA Early Insights Paper now available for member review.

This forms part of our bigger work program on preparing for the Basin Plan Review. Please let us know your feedback.

Note: Draft Submission is not for further distribution outside your organisation at this stage until finalised (as we are awaiting publication of some source articles, such as on the framework, which is subject to copyright/licensing constraints until published). 

“Holding Ground in Uncertainty: Insights for Australian Agriculture in 2050” is a deep and wide-ranging exploration of the futures that might await our sector—and the strategic choices we can make today to shape them.

This expanded edition includes 19 contributions from leading researchers and practitioners, exploring themes such as:

  • Landscapes, livelihoods and innovation: Future land use, water management, adaptation to climate extremes, and the role of innovation and agtech.
  • Diverse futures: Four scenario narratives — Regional Ag Capitals, Landscape Stewardship, Climate Survival, and System Decline — mapped out through the Ag2050 initiative.
  • Resilience through change: Case studies on livestock and aquaculture, AI in agriculture, and strategies for workforce renewal and circular economies.
New voices and perspectives: Reflections from industry leaders and thinkers on sustainability, decarbonisation, education, resource pressures, and how to foster long-term resilience

CISRO released their first-ever national stocktake of our $800 billion food system, which feeds around 100 million people – including 27 million Australians – with food produced by 100,000 farmers. The report maps a number of key challenges in the food system and seeks to calculate hidden costs.  The report identified three key steps to guide a systems-based approach for transformation:

  1. Recognising the food system as an integrated whole, moving beyond a fragmented, sector-based view
  2. Navigating responsibility across government, industry, and communities to ensure shared accountability for sustainability, nutrition, and equity goals
  3. Enabling interactions across disconnected parts of the system, from farming and nutrition to policy and innovation.

We are in the process of planning for our July General Meeting, which is scheduled for 16th and 17th July in Canberra. 

The Dinner will be located at Hotel Kurrajong on Wednesday 16th July - see event here.

The General Meeting will be at Old Parliament House on Thursday 17th July - see event here. 

For meeting documentation and discount codes for accommodation in Canberra, visit our meeting page.

Following a few Member discussions, a draft Consultation Expectation Guideline document has been prepared for Member feedback.  

The guideline was produced to provide clarity on what our industry considers ‘effective engagement’ (one of our policy principles) in the context of consultation on policy development and implementation, for all stakeholders and address ongoing concerns regarding poor public consultation. We used the International Association for Public Participation as our main reference source, so this isnt new but rather contextualised for our experience. 

We are looking for feedback from Members on the guideline, but in particular the seven principles for good consultation and our commitments in return (these are detailed within the guideline or found in the executive summary).  We are also interested in feedback on whether you want an overarching Position Statement that Members vote on, what that might be or if your happy with the information being in the guideline as prepared. 

Reach out to either Zara or Christine on this one, and join in on Wednesday for the Member Drop in, to hear others feedback.   

DCCEEW today announced in their newly returned, water matters newsletter that the Aboriginal Water Entitlement Program has contracted their first purchase - this was for 200 megalitres in the Macquarie Valley, at $4,400/ML its assumed this is General Security entitlements. This purchase is despite there being no clear governance arrangements on how the water is held, who makes determinations on its use and management.   

To sign up to Water Matters or see past newsletters visit the webpage -  Water Matters.

THe NIC has created a Menindee Lakes information page to provide a central location for updates and important information on Menindee Lakes.  The aim of this is to ensure you have the current information to be informed as we progress through the MDBA's Menindee Operations review. 

Recently, the MDBA provided a follow-up presentation on the initial thoughts and finding for the review.  This is provided on the page under Strategy and Policy Documents. 

The National Irrigators’ Council (NIC) joined a chorus of Australian businesses this ‘Australian Made Week (19-25 May), by celebrating Aussie grown food and fibre, with a call to action for the Federal Government to include water security for farming in their new National food security strategy: Feeding Australia. “This week we celebrate how 93% of Australia's fruit, nuts and grapes together with 83% of our vegetables are all grown by Aussie irrigators,” said NIC CEO, Ms Zara Lowien. [...]

This week Farmers for Climate Action published a new report: The Cost of Climate Change at the Checkout.

This report shows 65% of Australians polled agreed that on-farm climate impacts are the top reason for increased food prices.

Something to bear in mind as we approach the Basin Plan review, with its focus on climate change. 

Click to see the full report. 

Following our Member Drop in on 7 May, the team have taken feedback to re-work our 2018 Cultural Water policy and added a few new positions, into our new DRAFT Position Statement - enabling Cultural objectives in water management. This is very much open for feedback, via our scheduled drop in session on 4 June or directly to Christine via email or phone call.. Remember the new template has the 'blue box' as the Member agreed wording with all other text readily updatable. All feedback welcome before the 9th June, to allow time to circulate a final prior to the July General Meeting.

Instagram - help us build!

We're looking to grow our social media presence, and need your help!

If you have Instagram:
1) Give us a follow @nat_irrigators
2) If you're posting some content relevant to NIC, invite us to collaborate (or tag us)!

If you do or don't:
3) Send us some videos! Videos of your local area, farms, rivers - it doesn't have to be polished, we can edit it up for a reel. Portrait mode is preferred. To share - you can send via text/WhatsApp/instagram message, or if high-quality, DropBox or WeTransfer (we're happy to help!). 

Content ideas and suggestions always welcome :)
 

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