COMMUNITY COMMENTS ON GULF WATER RESOURCE PLAN

A broad cross-section of the community has taken the time to provide feedback on the Draft Gulf Water Resource Plan, Minister for Natural Resources and Water Craig Wallace said today.

Mr Wallace said more than 2000 submissions had been received from individuals and groups across the state.

Water resource plans establish a framework to sustainably share water between human and environmental needs.

“The level of response to the draft gulf plan has been incredible and proves not only the support for, but the importance of the community consultation process,” Mr Wallace said.

“The high number of submissions means it may take a bit longer to produce the final version of the plan, but we are still aiming to have it completed and released to the public by the end of the year.

“The most important thing is that all submissions will be read and taken into account before any decision is made.”

Mr Wallace said the Water Act 2000 contained a clause that meant the community would see exactly how their views had been taken into account during the formulation of the plan.

“The Act calls for us to release a consultation report detailing how all submissions on the draft plan have been considered within 20 business days of releasing the plan.

“This is a great example of transparency of government, and provides important feedback for the communities involved in the process.”

Mr Wallace said the draft plan aimed to meet projected water demands across the region for the next 10 years by proposing to reserve part of any unallocated water for future strategic and general use.

“The new reserves together with existing water entitlements in the plan area represent approximately 1.5 per cent of average annual flows into the Gulf of Carpentaria.

“This allows water to be made available to support economic development activities in the Gulf, while protecting the area’s unique environmental and ecological assets, as the vast majority of water will still reach the Gulf.”

The draft plan recognises all existing water entitlement arrangements. Any new water to be made available will not be at the expense of the security of existing water licences.

Mr Wallace said the final water resource plan would be implemented by a resource operations plan (ROP) which would also include water sharing rules and a release process for unallocated water.

"We anticipate that a draft ROP will be available for public comment and submissions early next year.”

Media inquiries: Caroline Kaurila, Craig Wallace’s office, on 0414 213 954.