Initial assessments
Australian Water Resources 2005
Australian Water Resources 2005 provides a snapshot of Australia's water resources at the beginning of the National Water Initiative reform journey in 2004-05. Baseline data on water availability, water use and river and wetland health serve as the starting points to measure improvements in water management.
Delivery
AWR 2005 was delivered in three phases:
- A discovery phase that investigated the availability of data and offered options for the most effective way of reporting.
- The Level 1 assessment was released in October 2006, delivering an initial assessment of water resource planning and management.
- The Level 2 assessment was released in July 2007.
The level 2 assessment builds on the Level 1 report and includes:
- integrated surface water and groundwater balances for 51 priority water management areas, including all capital cities
- comprehensive statistics on water use in the Australian economy in 2004-05
- a new national framework for assessing river and wetland health.
Water Governance in Australia
Making it easier to understand how water is managed in Australia and by whom.
Clear and up-to-date information on Australia's water governance arrangements is important to achieving National Water Initiative outcomes and long-term sustainable water management.
The Commission first undertook a baseline assessment of water governance arrangements in 2006, as required under the National Water Initiative (NWI) and the National Water Commission Act 2004.
The first governance product, developed in 2006 and later updated, was Australian Water Governance. This was a companion product to the Commission's baseline resources product - Australian Water Resources 2005.
National Competition Policy assessments
The National Water Commission was charged with undertaking National Competition Policy (NCP) assessments of governments' progress with implementing the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) water reforms.
2005 National Competition Policy Assessment of Water Reform Progress
On 20 April 2006, the Australian Government released the 2005 National Competition Policy Assessment of Water Reform Progress.
The Commission's assessment found that NSW, Victoria and South Australia had made insufficient progress in meeting their interstate water trading commitments for the southern Murray-Darling Basin.
As a result, the Australian Government decided to withhold $13.3 million worth of competition payments from NSW, $9.9 million from Victoria, and $3 million from South Australia.
2007 National Competition Policy assessments
Follow-up NCP assessments were released on 13 September 2007, covering water planning in NSW and Western Australia, and water trading in the southern Murray-Darling Basin.
In line with the Commission's NCP recommendations, NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia received $43 million in previously suspended competition payments from the Australian Government following progress in implementing water reforms.
The Commission found that NSW, Victoria and South Australia have made a significant effort to put in place arrangements which allow permanent interstate trade of water access entitlements.
The Commission also found that NSW had made satisfactory improvement in its water planning practices and that Western Australia has made a significant effort to improve its water planning frameworks and processes.
- 2005 National Competition Policy: follow up: Water trading arrangements in the southern MDB
- 2005 National Competition Policy: follow up of water reform progress: Water Planning in WA
- 2005 National Competition Policy: follow up of water reform progress: Water Planning in NSW
The Commission's 2007 follow up water assessment is the final under the current National Competition Policy arrangements.