Regional Collaboration of Provision of Water Services
Date: 29-Jun-2017
Assisting and promoting regional collaboration has been a key element of qldwater since its creation in 2004. We have been working jointly with LGAQ on regional collaboration initiatives for several years and since June 2010 directly with LGAQ and the Department of Environment and Resource Management through a joint MoA. A lot of time and effort has also been expended by our members in these initiatives, particularly through participation in various reference groups.
Regional collaboration has again been called into focus through the release of national reviews of the urban water industry that have been critical of Queensland and NSW water industries (see e Flash 115). Most tellingly, the review by the Productivity Commission (e Flash # 120) called for Queensland and NSW State Governments to review institutional arrangements to seek greater economies of scale for water service providers. LGAQ responded to this recommendation by proposing an industry-led rather than top-down review of potential collaborative arrangements and sought support and funding from the State.
In late July, Minister Nolan supported a proposal led by LGAQ to examine the appropriateness of collaborative approaches and institutional change outside South-East Queensland. The minister has since announced funding support for a project developed from this proposal (see http://www.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=75756). As well as being a key collaborator in developing the project, qldwater has been appointed by LGAQ as the program manager for the program.
In summary, the program will investigate a variety of different possible collaborative models with a number of regions across Queensland, taking into account the diversity and distance issues innate to our water services. The interest, from collaborators and DERM, is to research and provide recommendations on the viability of regional collaboration and alliance models in an attempt to achieve economies of scope and scale. This project, along with the existing MoA with LGAQ and DERM, will assist the development of various approaches to regulatory streamlining, which are starting to show results.
The Remote Area Planning and Development Board (RAPAD) group of councils has confirmed participation and discussions are underway with other regions. More information will be distributed on this program as it evolves. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to contact Rob Fearon directly (3252 4701) or call Simone Talbot (LGAQ 3000 2246) if you would like to find out more or are interested in participating.
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