| A. | NATIONAL COMMITTEE |
| 1. |
Mr Chris Bennett Tel : +61 2 9476 0142 Irrigation Information
Portal Address : http://www.irrigate.net.au |
| B. | NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN |
| 2. |
Mr. Peter Toome |
| C. | ICID OFFICE BEARERS - HONORAIRE |
| 3. |
Assoc. Prof. Hector M. Malano |
| 4. | Mr.
J.S. Abbott Vice President Hon., ICID 6 Gill Street Mosman Park WA 6012 Tel : +61 9 384 9476 Fax : +61 9 362 5627 |
| 5. | Prof.
D.J. Constable Vice President Hon., ICID 3 Walden Road Mentone Vic 3194 Tel : +61 3 583 6380 |
| D. | MEMBERS OF ICID COMMITTEES/WORKING GROUPS |
| 6. | Mr.
V.C. Ballard 1063 Burke Road Hawthorn 3123 Tel : +61 3 508 2455 E-mail : ballardc@ocean.com.au Member : WG-CAFM |
| 7. |
Mr. E. Christian E-mail : evan.christen@csiro.au
|
| 8. | Mr.
G. Croke Psi-Delta 411 Collins St., Melbourne 2000 Tel : +61 96228333 Fax : +61 96228332 Member : WG-PQW |
| 9. |
Ms. Anne Currey E-mail : anne@naturallyresourceful.com.au Member : C-PR&P |
| 10. |
Mr. Anthony John Horton E-mail : anthony.horton@nrm.qld.gov.au Member : ASRWG |
| 11. | Dr.
Hector Malano (For address see sr.no.3) Chmn : PCTA Joint Editor : Irrigation and Drainage Member : MB, EB-JOUR Perm. Observer : WG-DRG, WG-ENV, WG-CD |
| 12. |
Mr. Kim Russell Tel : 02 62900874 E-mail : kimrussell@grapevine.com.au, kim.russell@bigpond.com Member : WG-WATS, WG-CLIMATE |
| 13. |
Mr. Stephen Mills Fax : +61 3 5862 2732 E-mail : stjmills@bigpond.net.au, stmills@cv.quick.com.au Member : WG-ON-FARM, WG-TRUE |
| 14. |
Dr. Ing. Willem F.
Vlotman, PhD, MBA |
|
Physiography The mainland of the Australian continent lies between latitudes 10°S and 40°S, a zone which in the northern and southern hemispheres contains most of the deserts. The Commonwealth of Australia comprises six States, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, and has a total area of 7,684,000 km2. Of the total area some 4 to 5 million km2 comprise arid and semi arid land. 33 per cent of the total area is still public land. A third of this public land consists of various kinds of Crown land, with few exceptions, is useless for crops or livestock because of aridity or ruggedness. About 63 per cent of the total area is devoted to farms and pastoral activities. Crop lands are about 150,000 km2 and permanent or rotational pastorals account for about 252,000 km2. Area irrigated for crops is about 5 per cent of the cropped land, i.e. 740,000 ha; there are also about 764,500 ha of irrigated pastures. Background Information While irrigation applies only to 0.4 per cent of Australia’s agricultural land, it accounts for $A7.3 billion — or 25 per cent — of Australia’s gross value of agricultural production. It supports significant value-added industries based on producing rice, dairy products, wine, fruit, vegetables, sugar and cotton — much of which are exported. It provides jobs and wealth for Australia’s rural communities. And it uses more than $A9 billion of water industry assets. While Australia accounts for 0.3% of the world’s population it accounts for around 1% of global water resources. This would seem to make Australia relatively water-rich, and indeed, much of water is used for irrigation that goes into products that are exported. However, Australia accounts for around 5% of the world’s landmass, and on this basis, is a relatively dry continent compared to the rest of the world – only Antarctica is drier. It also experiences extreme variability in both rainfall and streamflow across the continent and from season to season. This means Australia has been at the forefront of irrigation water management and has adapted its management systems to cope with this variability. The Murray-Darling Basin is Australia’s most important region for irrigated agriculture. The Basin, which lies across four states and one territory, contains almost three-quarters of the nation’s irrigated land in Australia. It covers 1.06 million square kilometres. It is also the most regulated catchment in the world and is facing issues related to increasing dryland salinity, over-allocated water resources and declining water quality. The Murray-Darling Basin Initiative is a partnership between the Australian Government, each of the relevant state/territory governments and the community. It has led to significant achievements in tackling water resource and other natural resource issues including :
Challenges being addressed by Australian irrigation industries
Governments developing the framework for water management and use Australia’s states and territories are responsible for managing their land and water resources. The Australian Government has played — and continues to play a leading role in developing and implementing nationally agreed policies for efficient, profitable and sustainable water and irrigation industries. In 1994, the Australian,
state and territory governments made a historic agreement about the future
management of water resources. The agreement was about new government
policy and regulatory approaches to encourage efficient and sustainable
management and use of resources. The water reform framework encompassed urban and rural water and wastewater industries and includes economic, environmental and social objectives. The reform program was aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the provision of water services and instituting water management planning to take into account the effects of all water use by agriculture, industry, households and the environment. The water reform framework explicitly linked economic and environmental issues within a coherent and integrated package of reform measures. These measures included :
Measures did not preclude new development but required that investment in new infrastructure is both environmentally sustainable and economically viable. This includes full cost recovery of the construction and ongoing costs from beneficiaries of the new infrastructure. All states and territories have actively implemented the reforms and have made significant progress. Water trading, for example, has increased. Local irrigators have taken on responsibility for irrigation management. And the environment has been recognised as a legitimate water user. National Water Initiative In August 2003, the Council of Australian Governments agreed to refresh its 1994 water reform agenda to increase the productivity and efficiency of water use, sustain rural and urban communities, and ensure the health of river and groundwater systems. The National Water Initiative is the next phase in improving management of water in Australia. The National Water Initiative provides an opportunity for a win-win outcome for both production and the environment and builds on the fundamental water reforms of the past ten years. The National Water Initiative focuses on six key elements :
The National Water Initiative is about encouraging investment in the water industry and water-using industries while making explicit provisions to ensure sustainable management of the resource base. The focus is on resource allocation and investment based on market responses rather than top-down government policy. Complementary programs/on-ground initiatives The Australian Government is also addressing reform of the water industry and improved natural resource management through integrated action at the regional scale. Regions vary biophysically, socially and culturally engendering a range of possible responses to the social, economic and environmental values and threats they face. In developing regional solutions and actions it is also important to involve those closest to the problems and opportunities — landholders, industries and regional communities. Regional approaches complement and build on the progress achieved through the water reform framework, and other developments in natural resource management. Major regionally-based programs include the Natural Heritage Trust and the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality. Information on these two programs can be obtained at http://www.nht.gov.au/index.html and http://www.napswq.gov.au/ respectively. Research & Development The Australian Government has made substantial commitments to research and development that support sustainable use and management of our surface and ground water resources through a range of government funded research institutions. The States and the Murray-Darling Basin Commission also undertake research and development supporting sustainable use and management of our water resources. Irrigators contribute to commodity related research and development corporations through a levy system which raises funds that are then matched by the Australian Government. Research by these corporations address production and productivity issues as well as natural resource management issues relating to their particular commodity industry. A number of Australia’s
larger irrigation water service providers contribute to research and development
supporting sustainable irrigation, as does ANCID. Ongoing water reform processes, investment in regional action and investment in knowledge and information supporting sustainable irrigation means that the future will see irrigated industries and businesses in Australia :
Australia and ICID Australia joined ICID in 1952, and has since been actively associated with ICID activities at national as well as international level. Australian National Committee hosted the 10th IEC at Canberra, in 1969, 34th IEC at Melbourne in 1983, 5th Afro-Asian Regional Conference at Townville in 1985 and 2nd Asian Regional Conference at Echuca/Moama in 2004. Australian National Committee is actively represented in 19 ICID workbodies. Prof. Hector Malano is the Chairman of WG-DMIS. Mr. Ronald East (1959-62); Dr. J.S. Abbott (1962-65); Prof. D.J. Constable (1987-1990) and Dr. Hector Malano (2000-2003) were the Vice Presidents. At present, Mr. Kim Russell, Executive Officer and Mr. Stephen Mills is the Chairman of Australian National Committee. |