NATIONAL IRRIGATORS’ COUNCIL
Advocating for the Australian irrigated agriculture industry
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 General Meeting is rescheduled to be on 23 April 2026, replacing the planned trip to the SA Riverland. This regional visit will be scheduled next year.
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 brief snapshot of the MDBA's Basin Plan Review discussion paper is available on the Members webpage.
A more detailed brief will be prepared for your information.
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.” [...]
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.
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.
On 9 December 2025, DCCEEW held a webinar about progress on implementing the Basin Plan.
If you missed it, you can now see the recording / transcript on their website.
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. [...]
The amount of water that can be used in the Southern Murray-Darling Basin may need to drop by a further 255 to 355 gigalitres (GL) after
2026, as States remain behind on vital environmental projects, a new report finds
“Water use has drastically declined since the Basin Plan,” said NIC CEO, Zara Lowien “with one in three litres of irrigation water, now out
of production and new Sustainable Diversion Limits (SDLs) set by the Basin Plan in force". [...]
The MDBA published the Murray-Darling Basin Outlook on Thursday 27 November, looking at the future hydroclimate of the Basin.
It considers a plausible range of climate futures to the year 2050 - assuming existing management arrangements, and will be used to inform
evidence for the Basin Plan Review.
A Member Briefing note is available in the Member Area.
The Minister tabled the third independent review into the Water for Environment Special Account (WESA) which funds the 450 GL of additional water for the environment, constraints and the sustaining basin communities program.
A Member Briefing note with links is available in the Member Area.
Farmers in the Basin are calling on the Federal Government to escalate water security for agriculture as a priority, following the findings
of the Basin Outlook, published today which echoed findings from the National Climate Risk Assessment.
“All climate change scenarios will have significant risks on water security for Australian agriculture,” said NIC CEO, Zara Lowien “farmers
are adapting every day to changing climate, but can only adapt so far, water security is critical” [...]
The Independent Panel reviewing the Water for Environment Special Account (WESA) has released its third and likely final report today.
The report focuses on the funding requirements of the WESA to implement the additional 450 GL of environmental water and constraints. It found, that there is a funding shortfall of $1.3 billion for the 450 GL program and that it is uncertain if the
full target can be achieved. It could not assess financial status of constraints beyond 2026 as no estimates of total costs are available and noted the remaining funds are sufficient for the expected expenses until 2026. No assessment on the Sustaining
Basin Communities funding was undertaken as no outputs were measured, although they did highlight the need for more explicit guidelines
on what is expected to be achieved.
The National Irrigators’ Council is calling for an independent review of program outcomes, after a statutory review on the Water for the
Environment Special Account (WESA) found an additional $1.3 billion would be needed to buy an additional 450 gigalitres, beyond what is
required to achieve Sustainable Diversion Limits (SDLs) in the Murray Darling Basin.
“The report findings call into question the Government focus on just water, with a $1.3 billion blowout, and their own science saying
priorities have shifted” said NIC CEO Zara Lowien [...]
Many stakeholders have been left shocked by yesterday’s Federal Government announcement to fast track an additional 130 gigalitres of water
purchases from farmers in the Southern Murray-Darling Basin, despite evidence that the Basin management needs to move beyond “just adding
water”.
“This was a missed opportunity for Minister Watt to put politics aside and send a strong message about refocusing the Basin Plan on
outcomes, not just numbers” said NIC CEO, Zara Lowien. [...]
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