Water Resources

Many primary producers from QFF’s member organisations belong to intensive agriculture industries. In order to implement efficient resource management strategies, to achieve desirable environmental outcomes and to maintain the viability of their operations, irrigators must be able to operate in a policy climate where they have security and certainty regarding their rights and responsibilities with respect to access to water.

QFF and its member organisations are committed to promoting the use of water and other natural resources in an efficient and sustainable manner that will benefit the economy while respecting the needs of the environment. They acknowledge the importance of individual property management in achieving sustainable outcomes at the broader landscape level.

The QFF Water Policy Committee gathers irrigator members and is the key policy group within QFF to address key water policy issues. As at 2010, the two major issues confronting this taskforce include the forthcoming Murray Darling Basin Plan and its impact upon irrigation entitlements; and a Queensland Competition Authority review into SunWater irrigation price paths from July 2011 to 2016.
For more information on the principles and issues covered by QFF’s water policy contact Ian Johnson.

General Policy Principles

Irrigators should not be solely responsible for bearing the costs of water allocation and management planning and the development and implementation of water reforms, given that these processes will benefit the community as a whole at the national, state, regional and local level.

Governments must employ principles of transparency and stakeholder consultation in the development of water policy and pricing mechanisms. Irrigators should be given adequate time and resources to be able to identify and respond to the implications of new policies and pricing mechanisms.

Governments must consider the capacity of industry to cope with changes in water pricing and policy, particularly in those industries which will face difficulties in implementing the reforms and in recovering increased production costs in their markets.

Water pricing and policy reforms need to be considered in the context of broader economic, social and environmental planning mechanisms. A coordinated and consultative approach is essential to effective planning, policy development and regulation.

In August 2010, research firm Judith Stubbs and Associates completed a review into the socioeconomic impact that could result from a permanent disruption to irrigation entitlements. This report found that a reduction in irrigation entitlement by 50 percent could cause 28,000 job losses at an annual cost to the country of $2.7 billion. QFF has responded extensively to the concerns such as these and the media release can be viewed here. The Judith Stubbs and Associates report can be viewed here.

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