March 2015
Message from the Northern Basin Advisory Committee Chair
were also concerned about a number of issues that sit
outside our committee’s remit, such as state water
licencing, and state development and regulatory
practice matters. The committee has taken action to
make sure these matters are passed on to the
relevant state and Commonwealth agencies.
A fair amount of our committee meeting was spent
being updated by MDBA staff on the progress of the
Northern Basin Review, which is what we were set up
to provide advice on. Through the review, the
northern basin is being given the unique opportunity
to revisit a couple of the Basin Plan’s water extraction
limits (sustainable diversion limits).
The Northern Basin Advisory Committee appreciated
the opportunity to hear about the concerns of people
in the Brewarrina district firsthand during our first
committee meeting for the year. The district is still
firmly in the grip of a very severe drought and we
thank the people who gave their time to come and
meet us and tell us their concerns about water.
Once again we heard people ask for information
about: what are the environmental assets that the
Basin Plan is trying to protect; and has there been
progress in achieving that aim with the environmental
water strategy the MDBA has in place.
Community members raised a range of issues and also
put forward some good suggestions for opportunities
to sell water licences to the Commonwealth. They
In short, the review has three main areas of work:
socio-economic work to look at how recovering water
from different parts of the river system is likely to
affect communities and industries; scientific work to
get clearer information about the water needs of the
environment in the north and to see if that might lead
to changes to extraction limits for a couple of
catchments; and water modelling to get a better
understanding of what the effects are when water is
recovered from different parts of the river.
From this, we expect to be able to make
recommendations about: whether the extraction
limits in those catchments should change; how to
fairly divide up the volume of water (143GL) needed
to meet downstream needs between the northern
catchments; and to give advice to the federal
environment department about how it can best go
about its water recovery in the north to limit any
effects on communities and industries.
Although the committee is frustrated at the time
taken to complete these major pieces of work we are
encouraged by the progress that’s been made. MDBA
staff have been getting out and talking with farmers
on their properties, and speaking with local businesses
to better understand how they’re affected by changes
to irrigated agriculture.
good environmental outcomes, but avoid putting
unnecessary hardship on people in the basin. This
means we’ll continue to call on the governments to
make every effort to explore all options and recover
water through means other than just buyback. We’re
now in the process of pulling together ideas we’ve
heard with the intention of providing it to basin
governments.
Key meeting outcomes

A key outcome of the session with the
Brewarrina community was strong support for
the option being promoted by our committee,
for the Commonwealth to recover small
licences held by graziers in the Intersecting
Streams and Barwon-Darling. There were
many issues raised that sit outside the
committee’s role, however, the committee
will ensure those matters are passed on to the
relevant state and Commonwealth agencies.

The committee was pleased to received
reports from the Commonwealth
Environmental Water Office (CEWO) about
discussions underway with entitlement
holders in the lower Balonne and options
around using temporary trade in the coming
season.

The committee welcomed an update from the
Queensland government about the local
engagement with the CEWO and floodplain
graziers to get improved environmental
benefits from low flows. This involves looking
at options around using environmental water
and using bifurcation weirs to help get low
flows into creeks and to reach the Barwon–
Darling.

The committee was advised on progress of
the social and economic consultations
currently underway across the northern basin.
These are helping to improve the tools used to
We were also pleased to see the progress made on
the water modelling and from some preliminary
findings − the early results are promising − and to
learn of how the scientific work could be applied
through water modelling in the Northern Basin
Review.
Our visit to Brewarrina was also a good opportunity to
tour the Ngemba Old Mission billabong where we saw
some ancient fish traps and heard about Aboriginal
values and cultural flows—cultural flows remain a
topical issue so it was good to hear about the
important role of water in indigenous culture
firsthand. We also welcomed our new Indigenous
representative Jason Wilson to his first NBAC meeting.
I’m sure Jason will be a constructive and positive
addition to our team.
As I mentioned in my previous Chairman’s message,
our committee is continuing to look for more ideas
and smarter ways to recover the water and still get
assess the effects of water reform changes on
businesses, both irrigation agriculture and
non-farming businesses. This work will feed
into the options being looked at for changes
to a couple of the extraction limits in the
northern basin. The committee agreed that
this work is invaluable as it brings to light
some of the issues communities are currently
feeling, but where there is not yet any
supporting data. More information about
social and economic consultation follows.



The committee was briefed on the results of
hydrologic modelling it had requested which
assesses some of the scenarios from
recovering water in different areas of the
northern basin. This will help us to better
understand how much flexibility there is to
recover water from different parts of the
river. The committee feels that while further
work is needed on this option, the early
results look promising. The committee
acknowledged that as work progresses,
particularly with determining the downstream
contributions, there will need to be additional
meetings in the northern basin to update
communities and seek feedback.
NBAC will be seeking opportunities to meet
with state and Commonwealth agencies to
discuss options for protecting environmental
water as it flows through the system. The aim
is to make sure the outcomes in the Basin Plan
are achieved, while recognising the need to
avoid any effects this will have on third
parties.
An NBAC member updated the committee on
progress on the NSW floodplain harvesting
project. The committee has asked for
clarification from the states about their
differing use of definitions and language in
relation to floodplain harvesting, overland
flows and interceptions, to avoid confusion
and misinterpretation.
Thanks again to the Brewarrina community. Our next
gathering will be held in Texas in May and we look
forward to meeting the local community.
Mal Peters
Northern Basin Advisory Committee Chair
Dates to note
March – Basin Plan Annual Report to be published
on MDBA web site
22 March – World Water Day
26 March – March – May Climate Outlook to be
published by the Bureau of Meteorology
Parliamentary Secretary Mr Bob Baldwin tour of
the northern basin (from late March)
20 – 21 May – Northern Basin Advisory
Committee meeting, Texas, Queensland
May – Australian Government response to the
Independent review of the Water Act 2007
Talking to communities
Northern basin communities are currently facing the
impact of drought, technological change, market
fluctuations, the effects on employment and other
factors. Understanding how these issues affect people
in the northern basin is important before we develop
any proposals to amend the Basin Plan.
For the Northern Basin Review we are seeking the
input and advice of northern basin community
representatives and stakeholders as well as technical
experts. Engagement with the Northern Basin
Advisory Committee and the Northern Basin
Intergovernmental Working Group are the primary
source of advice.
The review has the Condamine−Balonne as one of its
focus areas due to the relative size of its water
extraction reduction. A locally based key stakeholder
group, the Lower Balonne Working Group, has
convened to work with MDBA on the best approach to
achieve the outcomes of the review.
Additionally, we plan to hold targeted workshops in
2015 and 2016 to obtain and exchange local input and
knowledge for all the Northern Basin Review projects.
Engagement and consultation has already started for
the social and economic impact assessment.
Discussions with local business and community
representatives is a key component. More than
twenty towns have been visited or are due to be
visited. These are St George, Dirranbandi, Hebel,
Moree, Collarenebri, Walgett, Bingara,
Coonabarabran, Gilgandra, Gunnedah, Chinchilla,
Boggabri, Narrabri, Wee Waa, Bourke, Brewarrina,
Trangie, Narromine, Warren and Nyngan, Goondiwindi
and Mungindi.
An example of the type of information we are
receiving is from Dirranbandi where a strong
relationship between water, farms and town
businesses was highlighted. Business representatives
said they were struggling with the impact of the
drought and a general lack of information about what
the recovery of water will achieve.
The project work is being done by MDBA with the help
of Deloitte Access Economics. Feedback from the
meetings is used to inform modelling work aimed at
better understanding the effects of different water
recovery options in the northern basin.
We are doing other socio-economic work. A project on
floodplain grazing includes local input as a key
component (see the following Grazing the floodplain
story).
There have been several calls for the MDBA to also
have a broader community engagement strategy for
the northern basin, and work on this has already
commenced.
More about the Northern Basin Review
New information about the Northern Basin Review is
available on our website:
http://www.mdba.gov.au/mediapubs/publications/the-northern-basin-review
Grazing the floodplain
The Northern Basin Review work program includes
two social and economic studies - the social and
economic impact study (covered in the last Northern
Basin Update), and a second study to look into
floodplain grazing.
The floodplain grazing project is about to commence
and will be conducted by independent consultants.
Given that key knowledge gaps exist for the lower
Balonne, this is the main focus area for the project.
The aim is to build and test a model that will help to
understand the benefits and impacts from different
water flows across floodplains. Graziers will be
interviewed to gather historical information about
how productivity and profits are affected by flows
across floodplains. Graziers will also be integral to the
testing of the model.
behaviour of flows. More information about the
project will be provided as work progresses.
As this project progresses, more information will be
made available.
Fishy business…
Native fish health and abundance are good indicators
of the health of the environment. Changes in water
flow greatly influence the life-cycle of native fish and
therefore their abundance and health. The size, timing
and duration of flows are triggers for maturing,
migration and spawning of fish.
Northern River Blackfish (Gadopsis marmoratus)
A booklet on fish in the Murray−Darling Basin is
available from the website at:
http://www.mdba.gov.au/sites/default/files/pubs/MD
BA-Fish-species-book.pdf
We know that more information is needed about
native fish in the northern basin, including:
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where species are found
how they respond to water flows
what other factors (such as alien species)
affect native fish.
The Northern Basin Science Review will improve our
understanding of how different species of fish
respond to different levels and timing of river flows,
and to help to increase our understanding of the
habitat needs of native fish.
When fish habitats are overly disturbed and degraded,
pest fish often move in and gain an unfair advantage
over native fish. This work will help give native fish the
best chance against alien species such as carp.
Field work is currently underway. You might spot two
people in a boat (with umbrellas for solar protection)
upstream of Bourke. Their work includes taking
measurements of the river and anabranch benches,
recording snags and other features. Equipment used
includes side scanning sonar and laser to measure the
height of different fish habitats as well as the
Opportunities for schools
The MDBA has resources available for schools that are
interested in participating in river health investigation.
Schools in the northern basin are invited to register
for the Basin Champions program, and can do so via
our website or by email to education@mdba.gov.au
Contact MDBA
Visit the MDBA web site where you can now find
northern basin information under Hot Topics.
You can also get more information on the MDBA’s
northern basin program by emailing Frank Walker,
Director, Northern Basin at
frank.walker@mdba.gov.au or call Frank on
07 4637 8847.
Email: engagement@mdba.gov.au
Phone: 1800 230067