COUNTRY
PROFILE - AUSTRALIA
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 :
- Implementation
of an upper limit on water diversions in the Basin
- Development and
implementation of the Salinity Management Strategy
- A program of actions
to improve the environmental outcomes for the Murray River and key surrounding
wetlands to ensure the river‘s ongoing health.
Challenges being
addressed by Australian irrigation industries
- Managing rapid
change (eg through implementation of water reforms)
- Responding to market
signals, including for water management and use
- Improving efficiency
– on farm, supply infrastructure and through movement of water
to higher value uses
- Managing their
resource base sustainably, including water, land, biodiversity.
- Contributing to
regional and national wealth
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.
This meant encouraging effective responses to market signals from those
directly involved in water resource management and from users.
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 :
- pricing water
for cost recovery and removing cross subsidies
- comprehensive
systems of water allocations and entitlements, separated from land,
and backed by secure access rights to water
- providing for
trading in water entitlements
- specific provision
of water for ecosystems
- water service
providers to operate on a commercial basis
- improved institutional
arrangements, including separation of service provision from regulation
and devolution of responsibility to the lowest possible level
- public consultation
and education.
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 :
- a framework for
nationally compatible water access entitlements, maximising economic
value while maintaining healthy rivers and aquifers;
- an efficient water
market;
- best practice
water pricing;
- integrated management
of environmental water;
- accurate measurement,
monitoring and reporting; and
- urban water reform.
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.
The Future
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 :
- That are efficient
- they produce more product with less water;
- That are profitable.
- That have sufficient
certainty over future resource access to support the investment to improve
output and efficiency;
- That are responsive
to market signals and involved in water trading (including with urban
communities) as well as land and product trading;
- That monitor, benchmark
and report on their own water management performance;
- That continue to
support and generate wealth for their communities; and
- That enjoy an improved
natural environment which provides natural resources can be utilised
sustainably to support profitable and sustainable irrigation businesses
Australia and ICID (ICID NCA)
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 18 ICID workbodies. Prof. Hector Malano was
the Chairman of PCTA, Joint Editor of Irrigation and Drainage. Dr. Ing.
Willem F. Vlotman is the Vice President, ICID, Chairman, Australian National
Committee (ICID NCA), Theme Leader of 'Systems', Chairman of WG-DRG, Secretary of
WG-MIS. 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 Chris
Bennett, Executive Officer and Mr. Peter Toome is the Chairman of Irrigation Australia Limited (IAL). 63rd IEC and 7th Asian Regional Conference will be held at Adelaide in June 2012.
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Dr. Willem F. Vlotman