Andrew McConville's address to MD-WERP Science Symposium 2024

A very warm welcome to all of you.

Thanks very much for coming along and and making sure that the work we do in ensuring Rivers for Generations is deeply bound in quality world-class science.

Such a great pleasure to have Darren Wighton provide a Welcome to Country.

I'd urge you all to reflect on what Darren said – yes, you do science, but never forget why we do science.

It's just so incredibly important.

Darren, also for those of you around early in the week, provided the Welcome to Country for the River Reflections conference.

He also said something there which really stuck with me, and that is that in the work we do, let's always remember to leave it in a better place – in a better way – than how we found it. And I think that's a good principle to guide ourselves by.

I'd like to also acknowledge the 50 nations and traditional owners and custodians of the lands and waters of the Murray – Darling Basin and pay my respects to elders, past and present.

What I'd like to do is maybe just build on what Rob Vertessy said around the role of the Murray – Darling Water and Environment Research program or MD-WERP and how that ties in with what we're doing in the broader context of the Basin and the Basin Plan Review and what that might mean for where we go in the future.

As Rob mentioned, MD-WERP was quite unique in many ways in aiming to strengthen the scientific knowledge of the Basin and under the themes of climate adaptation, hydrology, environmental outcomes, and of course, the social, economic and culture outcomes that we seek to achieve through Basin science and Basin planning.

And as Rob alluded to the program in many ways was brought about to respond to emerging issues.

Of course the very tragic fish kills of 2019.

But since then, we've also had several short-term challenges to the Basin and so the program certainly helps to respond to those short-term emerging issues, but also it is about providing a research base to benefit the Basin and its communities for years to come. 

And of course, none of this can be done alone, and it's important that we acknowledge our partner agencies in this exercise, Commonwealth Environment Water Holder and of course, the Department of Climate Change Energy, Environment and Water.

CSIRO and of course, Latrobe University bring it all together with the MDBA and state governments. 

In terms of the symposium, it's a fabulous way for everyone to come together once a year to showcase for researchers what their progress has been and to share knowledge and experience.

And that's just so incredibly important how we share knowledge. It's one thing to generate knowledge. It's one thing to do science. But a message that I'll leave you with later if you're not communicating that knowledge and science, then it really isn't very good for anyone. 

We're very close to the final whistle of MD-WERP. So, it is important that we share the results of the research to date and importantly how that research might be adopted and used across the Basin to a much wider audience.

Again, let's not forget what we're in service of here, and certainly that wider audience includes community; includes government officials and policy makers, water managers, peak bodies, industry groups and, of course, the scientific community.

And you know, I want to reinforce that point to all of you. The importance of involving decision makers and community members, the end users in the collection and scrutiny of that science and make sure that it's that it's well understood.

And I think this leads me to the next point and that's around building social license of science. Science in the Basin is most certainly the backbone of informed decision making and so much so that we have a legislative obligation to use the best available science.

But science is not solely how we make decisions and nor can it ever be thus.

Science is not a one-way street. Science requires strong collaboration.

It requires trust, and it requires building mutual understanding and by involving basing communities in the scientific process we really can ensure that science is not only relevant but applicable and effective as well.

And you know quite frankly any science, and most particularly basin science, has to earn and maintain social license, and so I urge you to think about that both in reflecting today and as you go on, because involving end users just makes good sense.

It makes good sense because I think the lived experience is very compelling. I think it's self-determinative of the data and the words that we put into reports and papers.

And you know, I think one of the things that's impressed me in my short time in the Basin is just the huge amount of local knowledge and expertise that exists in basin communities and how that provides insights into the unique challenges of the Basin.

There is no part of the Basin that is like any other part of the Basin.

There is no community in the Basin that is like any other community in the Basin.

And I think it's also important to recognise that communities are much more likely to trust and adopt the findings of your work and the scientific communities work when they are involved in the process.

We all benefit and the scientific community benefits by understanding the perspective of end users, so making sure that the research is grounded and that it is fit for purpose as well.

And certainly, I think you know in terms of today lots of opportunities for you to update yourselves as to where the various projects are at and the progress that's being made. I think it's a wonderful opportunity.

I've never known a scientist that doesn't like talking about their work. So, it's a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate the work that you've done, how you've been out, you've listened to stakeholders and showcase how the work that you are doing is intended to be used in what I call the real world of the Basin.

Now, earlier this week, Sir Angus Houston, the MDBA's chair, released our first piece of work on the journey to the Basin Plan Review the Early Insights Paper.

It is true that it's not a detailed science paper or a detailed technical read.

But what it does is signal that science will absolutely continue to guide the work of the MDBA as we approach the Basin Plan Review. It's a paradox only at first glance.

We have the opportunity through the Basin Plan Review as flagged in the Early Insights Paper, the opportunity to ensure that the Basin Plan continues to adapt and keep pace with change in the community, and the environment and change in the climate.

So, the Early Insights Paper presents five areas that we've identified as key for the focus of our work as we go into the review. 

Those five key areas cut across four key themes of the Review climate change, First Nations Sustainable Water Limits and regulatory design.

We've got 12 years now of lived experience and knowledge that's been gained from implementing the Basin Plan. 

And so, the challenge for all of you, the scientific community here in the room and online, is to take that 12 years of knowledge and lived experience and then perhaps apply your minds to how you might define the next 10 years of basin management.

And you know, we've heard over many years the experiences of Basin communities, of irrigators, of governments, of land and water managers and what they're telling us is that they want to see the next iteration of the basin plan to have a much more elevated focus on outcomes. 
And I think on that, we can all agree.

How we agree and how we focus on outcomes is the challenge and you know some of these ideas are starting to surface, as we think about sustainable diversion and to make sure that they are still fit for purpose in supporting what our desired environmental outcomes might be.

I was having a great chat with Bill Young, just before, and we were talking about this notion of a healthy basin and what a healthy basin might mean, and the role sustainable diversion limits might play in that.

And it got me to reflect that science is probably one of the many contribution to an overall decision making framework for the Authority, and I think you know, we're edging closer to reaching some of those points around what that might look like; a healthy basin and the role of sustainable diversion limits with important inputs from hydrological modelling which, for decades, has really been the fundamental basis on which decisions about water have been made.

I think it's about building on that, building on the work that we've done, the Integrated River Modelling uplift program, sustainable yields project, these are all going to build on that and give us a much greater level of confidence around the outcomes that we seek to achieve.

Early next year we'll complete the sustainable rivers audit, and that'll tell us about the current condition of the Basin’s environment and where it's been trending under the Basin Plan and that will help inform us as we think about the future of the Basin as part of the Basin Plan Review.

For the first time, the Sustainable Rivers audit will also report on the social, cultural and economic condition of the basin, so broadening it away from just the hydrological conditions to a much broader, nuanced view of the outcomes we're seeking to achieve, and to really better understand the very complex fabric of the basin.

That work will be complemented by a range of Basin Conditions Monitoring projects that we’ve developed with our Regional Community Forums which is a fascinating exercise in itself – to make sure that that in turn reflects communities’ priorities – because we can't do any of this in isolation from the community.

And then certainly there are many important contributions that come in behind that with the MD-WERP program. The Program is really crucial to supporting that Basin scale approach to water policy and helping us address future challenge challenges and so today really provides the showcase opportunity for that research and as you look around the room and as you walk around and speak to the research owners, you know you'll hear and see really great examples of collaboration at its best.

And you know, I think it's super important that we continue to collaborate in a way that allows us to get the best possible outcomes for the Basin and so collaboration between governments at all levels collaboration between science organisations with an absolute wealth of expertise from CSIRO, from Latrobe, from Griffith, from Deakin and other universities.

I think as you walk around and if you haven't yet, I'd certainly urge you to look at the posters but you know the notion of how water forecasts can aid, you know river operations in decision making and just how incredibly important that is because the work that the MDBA does people, we get very focused on the Basin Plan, but we also run the River Murray system.

Being able to be confident about water supply and delivery and environmental watering and how we manage storage is super important. So, you'll hear about some of that.

You'll hear about some of the strengths and challenges and opportunities of managing rivers at a very, very large scale. Often we can get very down in the weeds, if you like, of our particular part of the Basin. But how do we look at managing rivers on a on a much larger scale I think is really important.

And one of the ones that I really like is a piece of research around looking at the impacts of climate change across not only environmental values, but economic values and that's exactly the sort of thing that we will need to make sure that the basin plan review is as good as it possibly can be.

There's been work published already by the WERP team in terms of how changes in flow might mean whether a wetland is covered in water, or not. We know that floodplain wetlands plant is an absolutely essential role as habitat. The plants and animals across the ecosystem of the Basin. And we know that. You know, wetlands have their own unique needs in terms of when they need to be wet, and indeed sometimes when they need to be dry. So understanding that, and I think there's also been some great work done.

There's a couple of short, animated videos that you might be able to have a look at, talking about riverbank erosion and in all of that, you know what I'd encourage you to do is complete a survey about what you think about the video and what you think about the project more generally.

Now, some of the research still has a way to go. As Rob mentioned, we're near the end, but we're not quite there yet, and so there won't be necessarily findings presented everywhere, but I think it's still really important that there is an opportunity to share where we're up to and I think that sharing is so important because one of the things that you know I've been very, very strong on since joining the MDBA some two years ago is the importance of transparency and the importance of sharing information.

One of the things that we've consistently said is that the Basin Plan Review is not going to happen behind closed doors. The openness that this process brings is very consistent with and important to that process for the Basin Plan Review. 

Now one of the four themes that I mentioned that the Basin Plan Review is looking at is climate change and it's arguably the most consequential. It's arguably the most complex piece of the Basin Plan Review that we will do because you know, understanding climate change, its impacts, and the potential responses to climate change really does demand of us all, you know, the integration of knowledge from a whole range of scientific disciplines and I think you know, developing the science to support the choices that we will need to make about climate change and the impacts of climate change and the Basin, it requires really deep and wide collaboration and requires engagement and indeed consent of the many decision makers and users right across the Basin.

I am really delighted that Professor Richard is here today and Lauren's going to actually talk to us shortly about climate adaptation and social change and you know, you can't think about climate change and not think about social change in the same breath.

I think our experience at the MDBA has shown us that unless you can manage both the social and the scientific elements that research programs can fail to influence management and policy, and you know that is a shame even when that happens.

But I think if we don't understand processes and we don't understand the constraints of the work that we do, if we don't focus on how we get acceptance of the outcomes by end users, then we can end up with a bit of a mismatch between the scale of research on the one hand and the scale of which decisions are made on the other.

There's a cautionary tale for us all in there and one of the things that I push our folk at the MDBA is, yes, it's one thing to do the science, but then you have to translate that science into policy.

And unfortunately, perhaps you then got to translate that policy into politics, because let's also never lose sight of the fact that the Basin Plan at the end of the day is a political compact.

So, how do we translate and transverse that journey?

I think it is important and that's one of the reasons why I'm so committed to the very consultative approach that we're taking to Basin Plan Review, so we can move from science to policy to politics to ultimately how the Basin Plan is implemented.

I think you know again by involving everyone particularly end users in the scientific process, we can make sure that the research and the science that we're producing is relevant. We can enhance the trust and the confidence of the Community. We can continue to foster that cooperation and collaboration in making sure that science meets the needs of everyone.

So let me conclude by just saying how vital your role is in making science of the Basin accessible. Never forget why – come back to what Darren said at the start - never forget why you do this. It's not science for science's sake. It's science to deliver better outcomes for the communities and the, you know, the 2 million people that depend on the Basin and the 8700 farming businesses, the $30 billion of agricultural output, the eleven or $12 billion of tourism and the 3.5 million people that rely on the basin for drinking water.

That's why we do it, and that's why it's so important to make sure that whatever we do ultimately supports those human needs in the Basin.

And I think, you know, the pathway to a healthy basin, one where rivers and industries and communities are vibrant and sustainable in the pathway to what our purpose at the MDBA is rivers for generation, can only be achieved through collaboration supported by sound science and research, but sound science and research that is understood and backed by basin communities.

To finish by saying or picking up the words of the former UK chief scientific adviser to the government. Mark Walport, he said science isn't finished until it is communicated.

I wish you the best of luck for your challenges ahead and again come back to what Darren said this morning. Never forget why you do this. It is so incredibly important. Thanks very much and good luck.