Project update video transcript

Below is the transcript of the water resources law reform project update July 2024 webinar.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Welcome to this update on the NT's Water Resource Law Reform Program.

My name's Carly.

I'm principal policy officer here in the Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security, working on the water law reform program.

I'd like to begin by acknowledging the Larrakia people the traditional custodians of the land from which I'm joining you today and pay my respects to their elders and extend that respect to their descendants, past, present, and emerging.

As you're probably aware, early work has commenced on developing contemporary water resource legislation to replace the NT’s Water Act.

We've been engaging with peak industry and interest groups and undertaking some foundational research through April to July this year.

The purpose of this session today is to provide you with an update on what we've heard through our engagement, what we've learned through our research so far, and next steps for the project.

We have a presentation that should go for about 10 or 15 minutes and there'll be time for questions at the end.

So this figure may be familiar to you. In April, we released this program for reform, identifying that new water resource legislation will be developed across 4 phases.

Since then, we've been in phase one, exploring, communicating our approach and undertaking some research.

We've engaged with 16 different groups through one-on-one meetings and I'll go through a bit of what we've heard in a moment. We've also undertaken a body of background research.

Importantly, this has included looking at our legislation as it stands today in comparison to other jurisdictions. I'll also talk through that today.

This phase will conclude by pulling together that research and consultation into a draft model for reform in late 2024.

Following that, we'll move into phase 2 setting. This is where we'll consider how any changes to policy should operate in the new regime.

Before we dive into our work so far, I want to take a look back at how this project has come about.

So in June 2023, the Territory water plan was published. The plan was the first of its kind for the NT, and it provides a lasting strategic framework for the NT Government and its partners.

Water security is the core principle guiding reform efforts under the plan, and it's defined as having an acceptable quantity and quality of water for people, economic opportunities, cultural and environmental needs now and into the future.

The plan identifies 16 priority actions for the NT Government to start to deliver in the short-term from 2023 to 2026.

The mix of priority actions aims to improve water security across the Territory, from our capital to our towns and remote communities and through to our homelands.

This includes supporting aspirations to sustainably grow the territory economy while managing the Territory's environmental and cultural water requirements.

So, under priority action 11, government committed to develop contemporary water resource management legislation to replace the Water Act in temporary laws that use modern language, reflect public expectations and are logical.

As with all the actions under the Territory water plan, water security is a core principle for the reform.

Importantly, while the Territory water plan has triggered this holistic reform, it's not the first time our water resource management laws have been improved.

Following self-government in 1978, the Northern Territory took responsibility for regulating its water resources.

The Water Act in 1992 established a general framework for water resource management, combining many other water-related laws into one, and since then there's been a number of substantial improvements.

That's included introduction of water planning in 2000 and the mandatory public participation mechanisms for water license decisions in 2007.

More recently we've seen the scope of the Water Act expand to include mining and petroleum industries and Aboriginal water reserves being enshrined in law.

A purpose-built licensing framework for development precincts has been established and a pathway for long term licenses has been made clear.

Both of these have improved certainty for investors in the NT.

For rural residential areas with high water demands, mechanisms were introduced to support subdivision with alternative sources of water, and in 2024, changes were made to support the appointment of an independent controller of water resources and to transfer review powers to the NT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

So the reform program we're undertaking now will recognize these improvements that have been made in recent years and it will build on them.

With the work we've done to date. We think the next stage, the model for reform, will include information about the scale of reforms that are planned in different areas and the level of engagement that will support it.

The model will identify areas where reform will set the foundations for new water laws.

Foundational reforms will influence most aspects of water resource management, so these will involve a higher level of engagement in the policy setting phase.

Secondly, there'll be the model will identify functional reforms to integrate those new foundational aspects with key decision-making processes.

We'll test these with stakeholders to ensure they're not unintended consequences in that policy setting phase.

Finally, there'll be areas where a form is about putting the finishing touches on the legislation. In the in these areas will maintain a consistent approach to the current regime, but we'll adopt contemporary methods and drafting.

Our engagement there will focus on informing stakeholders how the transition into the new regime will work.

Turning now to what we've heard through our engagement to date, we've heard 5 consistent themes emerge there.

That water resource laws should treat water as systems, as dynamic, be risk-based, increase certainty, foster local participation and recognise Aboriginal interests.

These themes are similar to what we've been seeing in national water policy and to what we've seen through previous work in the NT. Importantly, none of these have come from one sector alone.

We've heard each of these themes echoed broadly across stakeholders representing environment, economic, cultural and recreational uses of water.

We'll look to integrate these themes through our model and then through the policy setting phase.

Now turning to what we've learned.

So through our research, we've learned that new water resource laws should include some key structural elements that are common across many jurisdictions’ water laws. Although the level of prescription in each element varies state-by-state.

These include preliminary elements that set up the subject, scope, and purpose of the laws and establish important concepts which are relied on throughout the laws.

Administration elements which establish roles to oversee and implement the laws and direct out other parts of the Act function.

Water planning elements consider how resources should be managed at a regional scale.

Water use elements put limits and controls on the ways people can take water from natural water systems.

Water related activities elements. Aside from extracting water, this element puts limits and controls on the way people can disturb the natural water cycle.

Water security and emergency management elements help respond to risks to water resources or water users, for example, water shortages or pollution events.

Finally, offenses, penalties, and enforcement elements establish behaviours that are unlawful and provide ways of dealing with people that behave unlawfully.

As it stands today, the NT's water laws do contain all of these key elements, although there is opportunity for improvements.

So from here, we'll continue to work behind the scenes to develop that draft model for reform.

We'll conclude the exploring phase by releasing the draft model for reform, allowing broader consultation in 2024, late 2024, sorry.

We expect to support that with some concurrent targeted engagement with our peak industry and interest groups to help explain the content and equip the groups to engage with their broader networks.

Initial targeted engagement for the policy setting phase will commence quite quickly after that.

It'll start the discussion on those foundational areas of the model that will influence most aspects of water resource management.

All going according to plan, consultation on the draft model will close in late 2024, with the model for reform published as a final document in early 2025.

The NT Government Water Security web page is going to be the first point-of-call for project updates over this time. So that's watersecurity.nt.gov.au.

And if you have questions as we move through the process, they can be directed to our water resources email at waterresources@nt.gov.au.

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