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System Harmonisation Project

This is an innovation of Research Plan 2 of the CRC.  The official project starting date is 1 July 2006 and will continue for the next 4 years.

The Centre will be developing partnerships with the local communities in the South East of SA and Coleambally (NSW) in order to examine:

The project involves partners from :

Methods used:
Many literatures have been examined and some hypotheses have been generated concerning the reasons why some communities can make the transition into sustainable water management regimes and other are met with impediments.

*Team UniSA from CCWPL

Other participants:
Coleambally Irrigation Ltd, Charles Sturt University Prof S Khan and his team, CSIRO, PIRSA, DLWBDC South Australian Farmers Federation and many others

Research Methods

Project 2.51.3: Social, Cultural, Institutional and Policy Frameworks

Project Leaders
Professor Jennifer McKay, University of South Australia and Professor Paul Martin, University of New England.

Objective
Understand and identify the most appropriate change management strategies and institutional and policy settings required to facilitate a more productive and sustainable irrigation region.

Strategies
This project considers:

1. Institutional and instrumental approaches to the removal of barriers and the creation of pathway incentives, with particular emphasis on the South Creek and Macintyre Brook RIBPs.

2. Developing an approach to identify and manage high-level policy risk so that irrigation bodies have a method to plan how to maintain irrigation system resilience under a range of circumstances.

3. Further refine and develop the CRC IF’s Sustainability Challenge work on GRI reporting with GMW, and then ‘package’ this for promotion to other irrigation bodies with an aim of adoption by a total of four. This work will enhance the Sustainability Challenge package by bringing into consideration methods for defining the boundaries of accountability, consideration of strategic impacts of reporting, reporting system efficiency, and best-practice in presentation and use. From this work the CRC will obtain an enhanced GRI compliance approach.

Research activities and achievements to date:
This research attempts to break new ground in considering how to couple behavioural systems to physical and economic systems, which it is hoped will result in new approaches to institutional design for Triple Bottom Line outcomes.

To date, the project has made substantial progress in reconceptualising how to tackle such challenges. Working closely with Professor James Shortle (Pennsylvania State University), and collaborators from the other System Harmonisation Program components (dealing with hydrology, economics and other aspects of systems integration), the project team developed a coherent framework for integration of economic and policy frameworks.

Future Directions:

COAG Meeting & The River Murray
Date:04/07/2008
Interviewed by:  Keith Conlon, Tony Pilkington, FIVEaa Breakfast Show, Adelaide 1395AM
Interviewees: Dr Jennifer McKay, Director of the Centre for Comparative Water Policies, UniSA
Brief: Conlon says Dr Jennifer McKay is a Fulbright scholar on water law and how we are going to handle water as a nation. McKay says what happened at COAG yesterday is a good move forward. She says what they signed has a lot of potential to change behaviour in the long term and give us a long-standing basin plan to operate the river system as a concerted whole.

She says handing the job over to an independent authority is very important to the transparency of the process. McKay says she is very sympathetic to the concerns that we need water immediately for the lakes. She says there is a political environment now that there might be a solution of getting more water through saying buying back the water isn't the solution because that will put the price of water up.  Continued discussion on water re the COAG meeting. McKay says it's over-allocated in some parts of the Murray Darling. She says we can step back and make decisions on a basin-wide basis so we can decide where should an industry go, where there is more water. She says we need to be very careful where we put water-sensitive or high water-demanding industries and cities.

McKay says Aust is still very much ahead of most countries in terms of this type of broad-scale water planning. She says the better thing is to look at other examples within Aust where property rights have been affected or changed as that would be more instructive. She thinks that with the new authority there will be arrangements for a better dialogue for very innovative ways of managing the river for ecological and economical use coming forward and being debated on.

Adelaide Fringe 2008 (22 February - 16 March)
Picturing Water Use and Justice

Presented by: Prof Jennifer McKay, Adam Gray and Kirsty Darlaston
Where: Atrlab Australia, 70 Kintore Avenue, Adelaide SA 5000
When:  21 Feb 6pm - 9pm FREE OPENING
             22, 25-29 Feb, 3-7, 11-14 Mar 9am-5pm FREE
             SMOKE FREE - Disability Access WV

Theme: "This exhibition comes out of a larger research project concerned with water use and justice. The project created over 600 photographs and after a workshop the key ones were chosen. Pithy comments attach to the photos which tell a moving story of water justice in drought ridden Australia."

Water Project
ABC South East SA (Mt Gambier) Rural Report
Thursday 6/12/2007 - 06:45am
Interviewees: Professor Jennifer McKay
 

Professor Jennifer McKay discusses the 'photo voice' project linking water and photography in the South East region, studying the perceptions and attitudes among large volume water users right across the spectrum, including use, policy and regulations. The project is being overseen for the Cooperative Research centre for Irrigation Futures.

McKay says a diary has been given to landholders with seven themes relating to laws, policy, macro management and practices. McKay says meetings will be held with the people chosen and is a free conflict way of discussing and getting people to adopt NRM policies. McKay says it is a good basis for people to be able to discuss aspects of something and improve things without conflict.

McKay says an anonymous NRM sample survey will be conducted on the issues concerning NRM water policy and planning in the South East. McKay says the photographs will be displayed at the Adelaide Fringe and at the UniSA Mount Gambier campus where people can make suggestions about policy and policy changes. McKay says the survey asks if people have enjoyed it and notes a very enthusiastic response rate already.

Spotlight on Water Policy
Border Watch (Mt Gambier)
Thursday 15/11/2007
By Chris Oldfield

Current water policies, usage and regulations are the focus of a photographic initiative spanning the region.  Called Photo Voice, the project is led by Professor Jennifer McKay and researchers Genesh Keremane and Adam Gray representing University of South Australia Centre for Comparative Water Policies and Laws.  As part of The Photo Voice Exercise disposable cameras and a diary will be handed to participants.

ABC Rural Bush Telegraph
Radio National (National Australia)
Bush Telegraph, Wednesday, 19/09/2007, 11:13 AM

Murray Irrigators consider legal action over water
Interviewed by: Belinda Varischetti 
Interviewees: Jennifer McKay, Professor of Business Law, University of South Australia

Discussion about Murray irrigators considering legal action over water allocation with Professor Jennifer McKay, University of South Australia. The Minister has always been given power to take away water allocations when an environmental problem arises according to McKay. She thinks irrigators should be requesting Exceptional Circumstances funding from the Federal Government. McKay calls for farmers to be adequately compensated so they remain on the land and manage it.

To plant or not to plant ... that is the decision currently facing South Australian annual irrigators
With only 13% of their water allocation and little prospect of rejuvenating rain, things are looking pretty grim and the window to decide the fate of the permanent plantings is a matter of weeks. Growers are starting to talk about compensation but for now their priority is survival watering. As the season progresses could legal action be the solution?

Jennifer McKay is Professor of Business Law at the University of South Australia. Her area of research is water law reform and how to manage the allocation of water between competing uses and between competing jurisdictions. In this report: Ian Zadow, Chair of the South Australian Murray Irrigators and potato grower; Jennifer McKay, Professor of Business Law, University of South Australia.

ABC 702 Sydney (National Australia)
The World Today - 06/06/2007 - 12:26 PM
Interview by Eleanor Hall
Interviewees: Anthony Albanese, Federal Shadow Minister for Water; Craig Wallace, Queensland Water Minister; Jennifer McKay, Director, Centre for Comparative Water Policies and Laws, University of South Australia.

Fed Water Minister Malcolm Turnbull won't reveal details of his negotiations with the Victorian Premier over the Fed Govt's $10b water plan, and Steve Bracks is revealing little about what he's managed to secure from the Commonwealth on its plan.

But one legal expert is warning today that if Victorian farmers are granted special conditions, the deal could be unconstitutional. Anthony Albanese, Federal Shadow Minister for Water, says everyone needs to work in the national interest and that's why there needs to be transparency in the process. Albanese calls on the Howard Govt to detail any arrangements that have been entered into.

Craig Wallace, Queensland Water Minister, says Queensland will need to review the final details of the Commonwealth's proposal including changes negotiated by Victoria to ensure Queensland benefits from any deal struck. Jennifer McKay, Director, Centre for Comparative Water Policies and Laws, University of South Australia, says in the case of most referred powers, the legislation becomes uniform throughout the whole country, which is done to unify the laws and achieve a social purpose. McKay says powers are referred to achieve uniformity, and if differences are desired then the Fed and State Govts should persist with the current situation.

ABC Wide Bay (Bundaberg)
Morning Show - 06/06/2007 - 10:50 AM
Interview by David Dowsett
Interviewees: Prof Ravi Naidu, University of South Australia

Australian scientists have developed a way to clean up one of the worlds most toxic commercial pollutants. Fire fighting foam is used the world over and while effective in fire fighting they are a toxic legacy. Prof Ravi Naidu heads a team at the University of South Australia who have been evaluating the fire retardant chemicals and speaks with Desley Blanch about the compounds saying they are very effective, but the problem is that the compound is quite toxic.

Prof Naidu says that his team has come up with two techniques to clean up surface or ground water affected by these PFO's and explains how the technique works. Naidu also explains how the test kit they have developed works and how it improves on current methods.

An image of Sara Hughes, Adam Gray and Jennifer McKay

Photo of the SCIP team (Sara Hughes, Jennifer McKay and Adam Gray) in Mt Gambier taken by Chris Oldfield of the Border Watch 18th June 2007. 

We were attending the Penola Pulp Mill authorisation Bill meeting and also working on the 2004 commercial forestry water allocation policy and law.

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