Improving outcomes

The current water plan includes goals that we seek to achieve through plan strategies. In a water plan, we call these goals ‘outcomes’.

For example, one of the outcomes is to make water available to sustain current levels of, and to support growth in, economic activity in the water plan area while recognising the social and cultural values of communities in the basins. A strategy (or way) to achieve this outcome is to consider how much water can be allocated to the individual users from unallocated water reserves established under the plan while protecting the existing users including the environment.

Across Queensland there are 23 water plans with multiple outcomes. We will review how effective the current Georgina and Diamantina water plan is at meeting its outcomes and work to standardise similar outcomes across all plans where that’s possible. That will make all water plans easier to understand and implement.

The Georgina and Diamantina water plan currently does not include any stand-alone social, economic, environmental or cultural outcomes. We will be working closely with all key stakeholders to develop these outcomes. This will involve engaging with local First Nations representatives to identify cultural values and address these by including specific cultural outcomes in the water plan.