Review of the Water for the Environment Special Account

The Water for the Environment Special Account (WESA) funds the recovery of environmental water in the Murray–Darling Basin. It was established with $1.775 billion available over 10 years. Of this funding:

• $1.575 billion is available to increase, by 30 June 2024, the volume of the Basin water resources that is available for environmental use by 450 gigalitres.
• $200 million will help to ease or remove constraints to deliver the environmental water.

Section 86AJ of the Water Act 2007 provides for two reviews of the WESA.

Independent review panel

For continuity, the same three members of an expert independent panel completed both reviews.

The panel members were:

• Mr Simon Lewis AO PSM
• Ms Sally Farrier
• Ms Merran Kelsall FCPA FCA.

The panellists have significant expertise in Commonwealth water matters, policy, engineering, infrastructure, governance, audit, risk, finance, and the water sector.

Ms Sally Farrier chaired the panel for the first review and Mr Simon Lewis AO PSM chaired the panel for the second review.

Second review of the WESA

The second review of the WESA built on the first review by focusing on the period between the two reviews. It was guided by the scope of the review terms of reference.

The second review was provided to the former Minister for Resources and Water on 20 December 2021 and tabled in the Federal Parliament on 2 August 2022.

You can download the final report for the second review below.

Consultation

To inform the review, the panel undertook targeted stakeholder consultation with relevant government water agencies. The purpose of this was to allow the panel to gain an understanding of the progress made since the first review.

Commissioned analysis

To support the review, the panel commissioned the following analysis:

• Marsden Jacob Associates undertook an updated analysis on water market insights and the volume of water potentially recoverable for environmental use through efficiency measures. This analysis was consistent with the approach used by Marsden Jacobs to inform the first review.
• Indec provided an updated assessment of progress made towards removing or easing the 6 identified constraints projects.

You can download both the Marsden Jacob Associates and Indec reports below.

First review of the WESA

The first review of the WESA was completed in March 2020 and tabled in the Federal Parliament out-of-session on 4 September 2020.

You can download the final report for the first review below.

Consultation

To inform the review, the panel sought feedback from September to December 2019 through:

• face-to-face meetings
• an online survey
• written submissions to a discussion paper.

Learn more about the public consultation process.

You can download a copy of the discussion paper.

Commissioned analysis

The WESA panel commissioned Marsden Jacob Associates to undertake a range of analysis to support their review.

You can read their report on the Marsden Jacob Associates website.

Australian Government response

You can read the Australian Government’s response to the first review of the WESA.

The response was tabled in Federal Parliament out-of-session on 2 October 2020.