Collaborative Water Planning: Legal and Policy Analysis

Abstract

This report introduces and analyses the legal and policy framework within which collaborative water planning exists. It starts at the national level, looking at the constitutional basis of the Commonwealth's role in water planning, recent policy and legislative aspects of its role, including the National Water Initiative; Native Title and Cultural Heritage legislation; the National Water Plan and the Water Act (Cth) 2007. It then addresses the legislative requirements at a State level, identifying the generic features of their water legislation. A description and analysis of the water planning legal framework state by state is included. This state by state analysis emphasises aspects germane to collaborative water planning referred to in earlier volumes, including public participation, socio-economic values, Indigenous participation, tools for tradeoffs and monitoring and evaluation of the water planning process.