Water legislation

The three elements of water legislation in Australia are:

Water Act 2007
Water Amendment Act 2008
Water Regulations 2008

Water Act 2007

The Water Act 2007 commenced on 3 March 2008 and implemented key reforms for water management in Australia.

The key features of the Act are:

The Act establishes the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) with the functions and powers, including enforcement powers, needed to ensure that Basin water resources are managed in an integrated and sustainable way.
The Act requires the MDBA to prepare the Basin Plan - a strategic plan for the integrated and sustainable management of water resources in the Murray-Darling Basin.
The Act establishes a Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder to manage the Commonwealth's environmental water to protect and restore the environmental assets of the Murray-Darling Basin, and outside the Basin where the Commonwealth owns water.
The Act provides the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) with a key role in developing and enforcing water charge and water market rules along the lines agreed in the National Water Initiative.
The Act gives the Bureau of Meteorology water information functions that are in addition to its existing functions under the Meteorology Act 1955.

Water Amendment Act 2008

In December 2008 the Water Amendment Act 2008 amended the Water Act 2007.

The key features of the Water Amendment Act 2008 are:

The functions of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission were transferred to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority . There is now a single body responsible for overseeing water resource planning in the Murray-Darling Basin.
The role of the ACCC was strengthened by providing for the water charge rules and the water market rules to apply to all water service providers and transactions.
The current powers of the ACCC were extended to determine or accredit determination arrangements for all regulated non-urban water charges.
It enabled the Basin Plan to provide arrangements for meeting critical human water needs.

The Water Amendment Act 2008 was based on a combination of Commonwealth constitutional powers and a referral of certain powers from the Basin States to the Commonwealth. The Act passed through the Commonwealth parliament following the passage of referring legislation through the Basin states - Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

As part of the Government's collaborative approach to water management, the Water Amendment Act 2008 was achieved after negotiating two very important intergovernmental agreements:

March 2008: the Memorandum of Understanding on Murray Darling Basin Reform was signed by the Prime Minister and the Premiers of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland, and the Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory.
July 2008: An Intergovernmental Agreement on Murray Darling Basin Reform (PDF 233 KB) was signed by First Ministers, which built on the principles of the Memorandum of Understanding. In the Intergovernmental Agreement, Governments committed to a new culture and practice of Basin-wide management and planning, through new governance structures and partnerships.

Water Regulations 2008

Regulations can be made to prescribe certain matters as provided for under the Act. On 19 June 2008 the Federal Executive Council approved the Water Regulations 2008 . Any regulations made under the Act after the principal regulations will be Water Amendment Regulations.

Members of the public and interested stakeholders have at times been invited to comment on draft regulations:

Regulations and amendment regulations under the Act that have been made on matters to date include:

Water market and water charge rules
Water Information
Murray-Darling Basin Authority special powers
Transitional matters relating to the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement
Amendments to the Murray-Darling Basin agreement
The definition of the boundary of the Murray-Darling Basin

Water management before the Water Act 2007

For more than a century our greatest system of rivers and aquifers, the Murray-Darling Basin, was managed between five states and territories, each of which has had competing interests.

The River Murray Waters Agreement was signed in 1914 by New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and established the River Murray Commission (which later became the Murray-Darling Basin Commission). The resulting governance model required the agreement of all Basin jurisdictions before anything could be done by the Commission.

These arrangements have remained largely unchanged until the commencement of the Water Act, hindering reform and encouraging decision making that was not in the interest of the Basin as a whole.

The over allocation of water resources in the Basin today, combined with record low inflows and the onset of climate change, were not envisaged at the time the River Murray Waters Agreement was signed.

The Water Act provides the capacity to meet the future challenges facing water management in the Murray-Darling Basin, one of the nations great assets.