Good morning and thank you.
I would like to start by acknowledging that we meet today on the lands of the First Peoples of Gomeroi Nations. I recognise their continuing connection to this land and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
I extend that respect to all First Nations peoples here today and acknowledge the people of all 40 First Nations across the Basin.
Thanks also to Ron and the Narrabri Council, who we met with this morning, for having us here in your town. It is really great to be back.
As Jack mentioned, I grew up in Armidale. I did my first school holiday job halfway between here and Wee Waa chipping burs.
I had my first professional job down the road in Gunnedah and I can remember playing the Blue Boars back in 1993. At that time, we played out a 12-all draw, but I hear the Boars are well and truly back on top now.
The mighty rivers of the Basin often move slowly. They usually move slowly. Over months, water flows from the north to the south – shifting and shaping things in its way, as it moves along.
It's an intentional, but not always quick process – and one that we can liken to water reform.
Purposeful progress can take time, and because it is continual and gradual it can feel like you are barely moving forward.
It is only when you look back that you start to realise just how far you have come.
We take the time because we want to get it right. We take the time because we need to get it right.
But to do that, it's really really important that we consider and capture all angles. We need to hear from everyone, from all perspectives.
You'll hear today some incredible insights from the likes of Professor Poff and Anne Castle about the Colorado River Basin.
It strikes me, when you hear about other places in the world and then you look at what's happening here, that although there have been tough times, whether it be drought or whether it be flooding, by working together and taking a whole-of-Basin view, the hard decisions that we are prepared to make and the hard decisions that we have to make today can mean we're ready for tomorrow.
Being in community
One of the most important values we try and live and work by at the MDBA is ‘Being in Community'.
There are many diverse and unique Basin communities – from First Nations to governments, forest to farm, headwaters to the sea.
We know that it's really important to listen to people.
My dad used to say – son, you have two ears and one mouth and use them in that proportion.
We acknowledge and place value on their personal experiences, but we also try and work to create long-lasting trusted relationships through transparent and ongoing connection and communication.
It's through being in community that we get a better understanding of the different points of view and can share and learn from what we hear.
In my office on the wall in Canberra, I have a map of the Basin. On that map, I have 64 red dots, at present. Each of those dots represents a community or a place that I've visited in the Basin since I began here just under 12 months ago.
On those visits, I get out and listen and try and learn from the communities. We talk about what they see as positive progress, we talk about what the achievements are, and on the other side of the coin, we talk about what is frustrating people.
From those conversations it is very clear to me that there are some things that everyone agrees on, and there are things that no one agrees on.
One thing is really clear – no one wants to go back to a time where there was no plan for the Basin. You'll hear from Anne Castle a little bit later of what happens when you don't have a collective and agreed plan.
Because water is a critical, but scarce resource. And we can all agree we need something in place to manage it.
Today we are here as a collective – we are drawn together by a shared passion – for the rivers and for the Basin.
You heard from Eddie, and you heard from Rod about how much the river means to them and to their families and to their town and to their community.
While we share similarities, we also recognise there are differences. Differences in our backgrounds, the way we live, what we know and how we feel.
As human beings we naturally view the world from our own perspective, we view the world through the prism of our own values. We can be empathetic to each other, but we also want to protect those things that are most important to us – our families, our homes, our communities, our ways of life.
When we think about those things, we are influenced by our surroundings, by our history, by our education, by our social circles.
And often, we can be very fearful to give even an inch in case someone takes a mile. It's natural that we want to hold that ground.
But progress can only come when we start to consider perspectives other than our own. When we start to consider each other's perspective.
If I were to ask everyone here and everyone online if you agree we need healthy rivers, I reckon it would be a pretty resounding and consistent response.
But if I were to ask you what a healthy river is, I would expect to get 100 different responses. Because there is no right answer, and there is no wrong answer. Just answers from a different perspective.
People can often feel more fearful in situations where they feel unheard, where there is a lack of transparency, so it is our job to build trusting, open and empathic spaces that give voice to diverse views and perspectives.
A place where people can feel free to discuss their own viewpoint without fear of judgement. Without fear of opinion-making. Where despite different perspectives, we can still work creatively and collaboratively, together on our purpose, creating rivers for generations.
It is that purpose, rivers for generations, which unites us and brings us all to try and address the challenge we have.
At the MDBA, we've got the challenge of bringing those differing perspectives together in a way that allows the progress needed to achieve that purpose.
It's a challenge that requires a lot of courage, as we know the judgements, we make will not be well received by everyone. But courage is another value that we try and live at the MDBA.
We've got more to do, and it's hard work and we're committed to doing it.
We need to push the boundaries, be bold in the decisions we make. We need to make the necessary choices and we need to make trade-offs. We need to take calculated risks, but risks that are backed by science and lived experience – and importantly we can't let competing points of view stop us from making progress. But in making progress, we've got to be transparent.
We have to keep moving forward, making recommendations that can – and likely will – lead to change.
But importantly we will also create opportunities and environments that encourage the bringing forward of shared perspectives and support communities who are engaged with each other. Just as we are here today.
Living and working in the Basin
Easy to say, hard to do.
As I said before, at the MDBA, we are actively in communities. We are not only physically present, but continually focussed on creating connections. Like we are doing here today.
About four years ago we had an objective to have 90 staff living and working in communities beyond Canberra.
Today that number has reached 130. From finance people to river operators, scientists to engagement officers.
We are meeting with Basin community members all the time – not just those who are most vocal but everyone who has an interest in the Basin – First Nations people, local governments, school groups, local volunteers, irrigators.
Because in the Basin, community is everything.
Just last month I was in Collarenebri with Sir Angus where I heard from the local school children about their hopes, their values and how their futures are linked with the health of the river that is a part of every day that they live out there. And they had plenty of questions for us, plenty of hard questions about what we are going to do to safeguard their community and safeguard that lifeline which is the river.
Without the help of the people in the Basin, without the help of you, we can't protect our rivers.
Without the people of the Basin, we can't get drinking water into towns, we can't provide water to irrigators and we can't ensure wetlands are healthy.
In short, without the people of the Basin we can't ensure rivers for generations.
Conclusion
So, there is a challenge ahead of us to make informed and purposeful decisions. It's a challenge to ensure rivers for generation, but there's a challenge ahead for us. A challenge on how we make informed and purposeful decisions. It's a challenge we're trying to face head on.
As an organisation, to come together and consider how far we've come. Not just in the past 10 years as you look back over the Basin Plan, or the past 20 years since the Millennium Drought began, it's about facing those challenges and being courageous all the time and recognising that we have come a fair way.
We've come to where water take is moving back to a more sustainable level.
Where rivers have more water.
Where communities are more engaged.
And everyone is talking more, north to south.
Where the MDBA is more present than ever before.
We're out there, and we're learning and we're doing and we're listening.
Each of us will always have our own perspectives. And that's ok. They are valuable and important to us getting this right.
Importantly, we need to learn from each other's viewpoint, respect the differences and see how together we can continue making those inroads to ensure we will have rivers for generations.
I invite you all over the course of the next two days to really consider this when you listen to the panel of people you will hear from, and you mix and engage with everyone, here, out there at dinner tonight.
Because it's a time to learn and understand from each other.
It's a time to see the world, from each other's perspective.
And of course, it's a time to enjoy each other's company.
Thank you