DRAFT CONDAMINE BALONNE RESOURCE OPERATIONS PLAN RELEASED

Water Minister Craig Wallace today announced that a draft Resource Operations Plan (ROP) for the Condamine and Balonne river catchments has been released for public consultation.

The draft ROP, which applies to surface water, outlines the detailed management rules and mechanisms to implement the catchment’s Water Resource Plan, finalised in August 2004.

It ensures that environmental flows occur while also giving water entitlement holders the certainty to get on with their businesses.

“The draft plan is the result of considerable consultation with local water users and other catchment groups,” Mr Wallace said.

“It converts existing water entitlements into volumetric water allocations that can be traded under rules that protect both the environment and other entitlement holders,” he said.

Queensland has agreed to hand over some of its constitutional powers over its part of the Murray-Darling Basin to the Commonwealth Government under a $10 billion plan, though specific details are still being worked through.

Prime Minister John Howard agreed on March 25 that the draft Condamine Balonne ROP could be released prior to the completion of a review being undertaken by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

Mr Wallace said: “The release of the draft ROP will enable the Water Resource Plan to be completed before any changed management arrangements come into force under the Commonwealth plan.

“This will give Condamine Balonne water users a secure and legally defendable entitlement to water,” he said.

“Water users in the Condamine Balonne catchment will be on the same footing as water users in NSW and Victoria, who already have secure water entitlements in place.

“Queensland is committed to its water sharing obligations under the National Water Initiative and the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement. When finalised, this plan will assist in meeting those obligations,” Mr Wallace said.

The draft ROP provides for:

·Conversions of existing water authorisations intro tradable water allocations. These allocations will be separate from the land to which they were traditionally attached;

·The rules to allow trading of water allocations;

·Water and ecosystem monitoring for the State and infrastructure operators.

·The operation of infrastructure and management of supplemented water in the Upper Condamine, Maranoa River, Chinchilla Weir and St George Water Supply Schemes;

·The granting of overland flow licences in the Lower Balonne, limiting the amount of water that can be taken; and

·The management of unsupplemented water and overland flow within the Condamine and Balonne catchments.

The Director-General of the Department of Natural Resources and Water, Scott Spencer, said departmental officers would hold workshops with interested people to assist those planning on making a submission.

Submissions close on June 8, 2007.

The draft plan is on the department’s website www.nrw.qld.gov.au/wrp. Copies can be collected from local NRW offices, or viewed at local shire council offices.

Following the public consultation, the Condamine Balonne ROP is expected to be completed early next year.

Mr Wallace said Queensland did the most comprehensive water planning in the nation.

“Condamine Balonne irrigators have done the right thing by participating in good faith in the planning process and I am pleased that the ROP is now being finalised,” he said.

Of the four Murray-Darling Basin States, Queensland takes the smallest amount of water.

NSW takes 55%, Victoria 34%, South Australia 6% and Queensland 5%.

Contact: Paul Childs, Craig Wallace’s office, on 0407 131 654.