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Council of Australian Governments' Communique
29 August 2003
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed that
there is a pressing need to refresh its 1994 water reform
agenda to increase the productivity and efficiency of water
use, sustain rural and urban communities, and to ensure
the health of river and groundwater systems.
Investment in new, more efficient, production systems is
being hampered by uncertainty over the long-term access to
water in some areas. Fully functioning water markets can help
to ensure that investment is properly targeted and water is
put to higher value and more efficient uses. However, current
arrangements are preventing those markets from delivering
their full potential. Furthermore, there are significant concerns
over the pace of securing adequate environmental flows and
adaptive management arrangements to ensure ecosystem health
in our river systems.
COAG has therefore agreed to develop a National
Water Initiative to:
-
improve the security of water access entitlements, including
by clear assignment of risks of reductions in future water
availability and by returning overallocated systems to
sustainable allocation levels;
- ensure ecosystem health by implementing regimes to protect
environmental assets at a whole-of-basin, aquifer or catchment
scale;
- ensure water is put to best use by encouraging the expansion
of water markets and trading across and between districts
and States (where water systems are physically shared),
involving clear rules for trading, robust water accounting
arrangements and pricing based on full cost recovery principles;
and
- encourage water conservation in our cities, including
better use of stormwater and recycled water.
The National Water Initiative will build on the achievements
of the 1994 COAG strategic framework for the reform of the
Australian water industry, the Natural Heritage Trust and
the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality.
Details
of the Initiative are to be settled over the next six months,
for consideration at the first COAG meeting in 2004. Further
details are provided in Attachment A.
Recognising the declining health of the River Murray system
in particular, COAG noted that member jurisdictions of the
Murray-Darling Basin have agreed to provide new funding of
$500 million over five years to address water overallocation
in the Basin. Forty per cent of this $500 million would be
contributed by the Australian Government and 60 per cent
by New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the
Australian Capital Territory. Contributions are: Australian Government
($200 million), New South Wales ($115 million),
Victoria ($115 million), South Australia ($65 million)
and the Australian Capital Territory ($5 million). This
funding would be subject to finalisation of details.
COAG reaffirmed its commitment to the 1995 National Competition
Policy agreement.
Communique in other Formats
- Council of Australian Governments'
Communique - 29 August 2003 - RTF
29KB | PDF 24KB
Attachments
- Attachment A - Proposed National
Water Initiative - HTML
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