Kimberley Water Forum Proceedings

Water Planning Tools co-ordinator Professor Poh-Ling Tan was invited to give an address to the Kimberley Water Forum, March 13-14, 2008 in Broome, Western Australia. The forum aimed to support and strengthen the conduct of water planning in Western Australia.

In September 2005, the Western Australian Government established the Water Reform Implementation Committee to provide detailed advice on progressing water reform in Western Australia. In its final advice to the Western Australian Government, the Water Reform Implementation Committee has addressed the requirements of the Government Response, the requirements of the National Water Initiative and the Western Australian setting and situation.

Within WA's Blueprint for water reform, the Committee called on the Department of Water to 'identify and enable opportunities to strengthen community engagement in the management of water' (recommendation 63).

Community engagement is important for:

• building confidence in water reform
• identifying environmental and 'public benefit outcomes'
• addressing indigenous water issues.

The first round of planning in the Kimberley is regional water planning. From our research in the Gulf and Ord, we have 3 key messages for regional planning in the Kimberley.

1. The community needs a clear process and knowledge of their role of community.  This includes clear Terms of Reference for any community reference panel set up, early workshops to tell general community what to expect, and how they can contribute.
2. Involve the community in early issue identification, and together with agencies find the facts/data to address those issues.
3. Respect diversity of time frames, culture, values and aspirations. Agencies should encourage the talking and thinking about differences - participation must go beyond giving information, or public meetings and submissions. In our research we found an alarming absence of adequate Aboriginal participation and representation. The Gulf region had significant Aboriginal populations, as high as 66% in some of the Gulf catchments, with large and growing land-holdings. It is a continuing challenge to integrate different forms of knowledge into the wider planning processes, and that is why early issue identification acts as a bridge.