Issued 30 March 2017

Basin Plan
Water Resource Plan Requirements
Position Statement 1K
Publishing WRP information
POLICY ISSUE / Will theMDBApublishandmaintainaclearandaccuraterecord ofeachaccreditedWRP? Ifso,howwillMDBAworkwithBasin Statestoensurethataclearandaccurate recordofthe accreditedWRPis maintainedandpubliclyavailable?
REFERENCES / WaterAct2007 (Cth)(Part7,ss58,59, 63, 65);Basin Plan 2012 (Cth)(all chapters).
MDBA POSITION STATEMENT
  1. The MDBA will publish and maintain the following records on the MDBA’s website:
  2. Accreditation decision: The Minister’s accreditation decision1andrelated explanatory statement isrequiredto bepublishedon the Australian Government’s Federal Register of Legislation2. For each WRP area, the MDBA website will provide a link totherelevant accreditation decision and explanatorystatement.
  3. Documentation comprising the accredited WRP and relevant supporting evidence: Subject to2. below, this will include material that constitutestheaccredited WRP and may include evidence provided by a Basin State to the MDBA to support the Basin State’s request for accreditation (see also Position Statement 2A – Accredited WRP and evidence).
  4. TheMDBA will work with theBasin Stateto ensure that the information published under 1.b:
  5. contains noconfidential information (including market sensitive information)
  6. has no copyright restrictions which would prevent theAustralian Government from publishing thedocumentation (the MDBA’s preference is for publication under CC-BY license3), and
  7. asfar aspracticable, is informatsthat complywith the WebContent Accessibility Guidelines4.

1Areferencetoan‘accreditationdecision’includesadecisiontoaccreditawaterresourceplanunders63oftheWaterAct 2007 (Cth)andadecisiontoaccreditanamendmenttothewaterresourceplanunders65ors66oftheWaterAct 2007 (Cth).

2

3

4

MDBA Reference: / D16/3410Accessed: 27/10/2018 6:22 AM

1

POSITION STATEMENT1F – Overall consistency

Rationale

  1. Sections58 and 59oftheWater Actrequiresthepersonsthat arecoveredbythose sections tocomplywith certain obligationsthat areinformed bythecontentofaWRP.5Given this,it isimportanttopublish and maintainan accurate record ofaWRP.
  2. As theMinister’s accreditation decision6involves the Minister accrediting a WRP, the Minister will need toclearlyidentifywhat is being accredited. Theaccreditation decisionmay identify the WRPthat is accreditedbyeither:
  3. attaching the WRPtotheaccreditation decision and indicating that the attachment is the accredited WRP, or
  4. identifying the WRPthat is accreditedin some other way(eg identifying the WRP that is accreditedas aparticular instrument or text that is locatedat a particular place (suchas the MDBA’s website) ona particular day).
  5. Theoption chosen will depend onthe size andcomplexityof the WRP that issubmitted bya Basin Stateandthe preferences of theMinister.
  6. TheLegislation Act 2003 (Cth) requirestheaccreditation decision andrelatedexplanatory statement to bepublished onthe AustralianGovernment’s Federal Register of Legislation7 (theRegister). If a WRP is attachedtotheaccreditation decision, the WRPwill be published on the Register with theaccreditation decision. But a WRP that is not attached toan accreditation decision, or an instrument or text that is incorporated inthe WRP byreference, will not be published on this Register.
  7. A Basin Statemayalsoprovide supporting evidence totheMDBA to explain howa WRP requirement has been met (see alsoPosition Statement 2A –AccreditedWRP and evidence). If this supporting evidence is not a part of theattachment tothe accreditation decision, it will not be published on theRegister.
  8. Toenhancetransparencyand accessibilityin relation totheaccreditedWRP,theMDBAwill publishand maintainthefollowingonthe MDBA’swebsiteforeachWRParea:
  1. a link tothepart of the Register that recordstheaccreditation decision and related explanatorystatement
  2. all of theinstrumentsand textsthat constitutetheaccredited WRP(if these instrumentsandtexts are attachedtotheaccreditation decision, alink to therelevant part of the Register may be provided instead)
  3. evidence provided bya Basin StatetotheMDBA that supportsthe BasinState’s request for accreditation(see alsoPosition Statement 2A –Accredited WRP andevidence).
  1. Material provided bya Basin State totheMDBA during thecourse of preparing a WRP for accreditation, or at thetime of submitting a WRP for accreditation, maycontain confidential information or material with copyright restrictions. Basin Statesshould identifysuch information at thetimethe material is provided tothe MDBA. Inthesecircumstances, the MDBA will work with theBasin Statetomanageissues relating tothepublication of the material andthe satisfaction ofWRPrequirements. In addition tothese considerations, the material submittedbyaBasin Statemayalsocontain sensitive information that isnot publicallyavailable (eg models or modelling reports). Suchmaterial should be identified if a Basin Statedoes not want it tobe published.

5 The content of a WRP is required to be identified by the WRP (see s 10.04 of the Basin Plan).

6 Areferencetoan‘accreditationdecision’includesadecisiontoaccreditawaterresourceplanunders63oftheWaterAct2007 (Cth) andadecisiontoaccreditanamendmenttothewaterresourceplanunders65ors66oftheWaterAct 2007 (Cth).

7

  1. Most government information is published under a Creative Commons (CC-BY) License, which is the default condition recommended by the Intellectual Property Principles for Australian Government Agencies.The MDBA’spreference isforthe contentofaWRPto be publishedunderCC-BY license.

MDBA Reference / D16/3410

1