At the beginning of 1 July in each financial year specified in the following table, the amount specified in the table for that year is credited by force of this section to the Water for the Environment Special Account.
Yearly payments
Item Financial year Amount for financial year
1 2014‑2015 $15,000,000.00
2 2015‑2016 $40,000,000.00
3 2016‑2017 $110,000,000.00
4 2017‑2018 $430,000,000.00
5 2018‑2019 $320,000,000.00
6 2019‑2020 $350,000,000.00
7 2020‑2021 $315,000,000.00
8 2021‑2022 $105,000,000.00
9 2022‑2023 $60,000,000.00
10 2023‑2024 $30,000,000.00
86AH Managing surplus money in the Water for the Environment Special Account—transfer to general CRF
(1) After the end of 31 December 2027, the Minister may, by notifiable instrument, give a direction that a specified amount is to be debited from the Water for the Environment Special Account on a specified day.
(2) The specified day must not be earlier than the commencement of the direction under subsection (1).
(3) The Minister must not give a direction under subsection (1) that specifies a day unless:
(a) the Minister has estimated that the balance of the Water for the Environment Special Account as at the end of that day is likely to include a surplus amount; and
(b) the amount specified in the direction is equal to, or less than, the surplus amount.
(4) For the purposes of paragraph (3)(a), an amount is a surplus amount if:
(a) it is an amount that does not exceed the amount that stood to the credit of the Water for the Environment Special Account as at the end of the specified day; and
(b) it is an amount that is not required for the purposes of meeting obligations or commitments entered into, or arising, on or before the specified day.
(5) The Minister may give more than one direction under subsection (1), provided that the requirements of this section are satisfied in relation to each direction.
86AI Annual report
Annual report to be given to Minister
(1) As soon as practicable after 30 June in each financial year (the report year), the Secretary of the Department must prepare and give to the Minister, for presentation to the Parliament, a report on the Water for the Environment Special Account during that year.
Contents of annual report
(2) The Secretary of the Department must include in each annual report particulars of the following:
(a) the objectives and priorities for amounts debited during the report year from the Water for the Environment Special Account;
(b) achievements against those objectives and priorities, including the following:
(i) the increase during the report year in the volume of the Commonwealth environmental water holdings as a result of amounts debited from the Water for the Environment Special Account (whether the amounts were debited in that or any other year);
(ii) a description of the kinds of water access rights acquired by the Commonwealth during the report year as a result of amounts debited from the Water for the Environment Special Account (whether the amounts were debited in that or any other year);
(iii) the water resource plan areas in which water access rights referred to in subparagraph (ii) have been acquired;
(c) for each project in relation to which an amount was debited from the Water for the Environment Special Account during the report year for the purposes of paragraph 86AD(2)(a) or subparagraph 86AD(2)(c)(i):
(i) a description of the project; and
(ii) the aim of the project; and
(iii) the water resource plan area in which the project is to take place or is taking place;
(d) if an amount was debited during a previous financial year for the purposes of paragraph 86AD(2)(a) or subparagraph 86AD(2)(c)(i) in relation to a project—any significant developments during the report year in relation to the project;
(e) in any case—any amount debited from the Water for the Environment Special Account during the report year, and the purpose for which the amount was debited.
Annual report to be tabled in Parliament
(3) The Minister must cause a copy of each annual report to be tabled in each House of the Parliament within 15 sitting days of that House after the day the Minister receives the report.
Annual report to be given to Basin States
(4) The Minister must cause a copy of each annual report to be given to the relevant State Minister for each of the Basin States on or before the day the report is first tabled in a House of the Parliament.
86AJ Reviews of this Part
(1) The Minister must cause 3 independent reviews to be conducted into whether the amount standing to the credit of, and to be credited to, the Water for the Environment Special Account is sufficient to increase, by 31 December 2027, the volume of the Basin water resources that is available for environmental use by 450 gigalitres, and to ease or remove constraints identified by the Authority on the capacity to deliver environmental water to the environmental assets of the Murray‑Darling Basin.
(2) A review must be conducted by a panel of at least 3 persons nominated by the Minister, after consulting each Basin State.
(3) In conducting a review under subsection (1), a panel must also consider the following:
(a) the progress that has been, and is anticipated to be, made towards increasing the volume of the Basin water resources that is available for environmental use;
(b) whether the design of projects in relation to which payments have been made under section 86AD is likely to be effective in increasing the volume of the Basin water resources that is available for environmental use by 450 gigalitres;
(c) any other matter specified in writing by the Minister that is relevant to achieving the object of this Part.
(3A) In conducting a review under subsection (1), a panel must also consider the effectiveness of the following:
(a) payments made, or expected to be made, under paragraph 86AD(2)(c) in relation to a purchase referred to in paragraph 86AD(2)(b);
(b) payments made, or expected to be made, from other sources in relation to a purchase referred to in paragraph 86AD(2)(b).
(4) A panel must give the Minister a written report of a review.
(5) The report of the first review must be provided to the Minister by 30 September 2019.
(6) The report of the second review must be provided to the Minister by 30 September 2021.
(6A) The report of the third review must be provided to the Minister by 30 September 2025.
(7) The Minister must cause a copy of a report of a review to be tabled in each House of the Parliament within 15 sitting days of that House after the day the report is given to the Minister.
(8) The Minister must table the Government’s response to the report by the following time:
(a) for the first review—the time the Treasurer presents the budget to the Parliament for the 2020‑2021 financial year;
(b) for the second review—the time the Treasurer presents the budget to the Parliament for the 2022‑2023 financial year;
(c) for the third review—the time the Treasurer presents the budget to the Parliament for the 2026‑2027 financial year.
Part 2A—Critical human water needs
86A Critical human water needs to be taken into account in developing Basin Plan
(1) Without limiting section 21, the Basin Plan must be prepared having regard to the fact that the Commonwealth and the Basin States have agreed:
(a) that critical human water needs are the highest priority water use for communities who are dependent on Basin water resources; and
(b) in particular that, to give effect to this priority in the River Murray System, conveyance water will receive first priority from the water available in the system.
(2) Critical human water needs are the needs for a minimum amount of water, that can only reasonably be provided from Basin water resources, required to meet:
(a) core human consumption requirements in urban and rural areas; and
(b) those non‑human consumption requirements that a failure to meet would cause prohibitively high social, economic or national security costs.
(3) The River Murray System is the aggregate of:
(a) the main course of the River Murray upstream of the eastern boundary of South Australia; and
(b) all tributaries entering that part of the main course upstream of Doctors Point (near Albury); and
(c) all effluents and anabranches of that part of the main course; and
(d) the watercourses connecting Lake Victoria to the main course; and
(e) the Darling River downstream of the Menindee Lakes Storage; and
(f) the upper River Murray storages, namely:
(i) Lake Victoria; and
(ii) the Menindee Lakes Storage; and
(iii) the storages formed by Dartmouth Dam and Hume Dam; and
(iv) the storages formed by the weirs, and weirs and locks, described in Schedule A to the Agreement that are upstream of the eastern boundary of South Australia; and
(g) the River Murray in South Australia.
(4) Conveyance water is water in the River Murray System required to deliver water to meet critical human water needs as far downstream as Wellington in South Australia.
86B Basin Plan to provide for critical human water needs
(1) The Basin Plan must:
(a) include a statement of the amount of water required in each Basin State that is a referring State (other than Queensland) to meet the critical human water needs of the communities in the State that are dependent on the waters of the River Murray System; and
(b) include a statement of the amount of conveyance water required to deliver the water referred to in paragraph (a); and
(c) specify water quality trigger points and salinity trigger points at which water in the River Murray System becomes unsuitable for meeting critical human water needs.
(2) The reference in paragraph (1)(a) to communities in a Basin State who are dependent on the waters of the River Murray System does not include a reference to communities dependent on the waters of the Edward‑Wakool System downstream of Stevens Weir.
86C Additional matters relating to monitoring, assessment and risk management
(1) The Basin Plan must also specify:
(a) arrangements for monitoring matters relevant to critical human water needs, including monitoring the quality, quantity and flows of surface water, the health of ecosystems and social impacts on communities; and
(b) the process for assessing, and managing risks to critical human water needs associated with, inflow prediction:
(i) in the River Murray System; and
(ii) in relation to works that are under the control of the body that is entitled, under the Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Act 1997 of New South Wales, to the Snowy water licence within the meaning of that Act; and
(c) the risk management approach for inter‑annual planning relating to arrangements for critical human water needs in future years.
(2) The risk management approach referred to in paragraph (1)(c) must address the making of decisions about whether water is:
(a) made available, in a particular year, for uses other than meeting critical human water needs; or
(b) set aside for critical human water needs in future years.
86D Additional matters relating to Tier 2 water sharing arrangements
(1) The Basin Plan must also:
(a) specify the conditions under which, due to the likelihood that the State water sharing arrangements that would apply but for this Part (Tier 1 water sharing arrangements) will not ensure that there is enough water to meet conveyance water needs:
(i) the Tier 1 water sharing arrangements cease to apply; and
(ii) other State water sharing arrangements (Tier 2 water sharing arrangements), provided for in the Agreement, commence; and
(b) specify the conditions under which Tier 2 water sharing arrangements cease to apply and Tier 1 water sharing arrangements recommence; and
(c) include a reserves policy that, for periods during which Tier 2 water sharing arrangements apply:
(i) specifies the annual volume of water required to be reserved to meet the shortfall in conveyance water worked out under subsection (2); and
(ii) specifies the extent to which this volume may vary between years; and
(iii) specifies the arrangements that are to apply to ensure that the volume of water required to meet the shortfall in conveyance water will be reserved and provided; and
(iv) takes into account the potential inputs from the Murrumbidgee, Darling and Goulburn Rivers; and
(d) specify arrangements for carrying water over in storage from one year to another for New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia; and
(e) provide for any other matters necessary to give effect to arrangements for sharing water in the River Murray System and in the Murrumbidgee, Darling and Goulburn Rivers in order to provide conveyance water.
(2) The shortfall in conveyance water is worked out for the purposes of subparagraph (1)(c)(i) by subtracting:
(a) the amount of conveyance water referred to in paragraph 86B(1)(b); from
(b) the minimum inflow sequence to the River Murray System from:
(i) natural flows; and
(ii) works that are under the control of the body that is entitled, under the Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Act 1997 of New South Wales, to the Snowy water licence within the meaning of that Act.
(3) The arrangements referred to in paragraph (1)(d) must:
(a) recognise South Australia’s right, as provided for in clauses 91 and 130 of the Agreement, to store its entitlement to water; and
(b) recognise that each of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia is responsible for meeting the critical human water needs of that State, and will decide how water from its share is used.
(4) State water sharing arrangements are the provisions of the Agreement that deal with the sharing of surface water in the River Murray System.
Note: The rules and accounting arrangements in the Agreement partition the shared surface water resource of the River Murray System between New South Wales and Victoria, and detail the entitlements to this water by South Australia. The Agreement includes provisions about the way in which the shares are defined, transferred and accounted for, access to and sharing of the storages, access to flows at different times and accounting for losses and overflows. All these provisions are used to determine the quantity of water in each State’s share at any given time.
86E Additional matters relating to Tier 3 water sharing arrangements
(1) The Basin Plan must also:
(a) specify the conditions under which, due to one or more of the circumstances referred to in subsection (2):
(i) Tier 2 water sharing arrangements cease to apply; and
(ii) other arrangements (Tier 3 water sharing arrangements), provided for in the Agreement, commence; and
(b) specify the conditions under which Tier 3 water sharing arrangements cease to apply and Tier 2 water sharing arrangements recommence.
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), the circumstances are:
(a) there are extreme and unprecedented low levels of water availability in the River Murray System; or
(b) there is extreme and unprecedented poor water quality in the water available in the River Murray System to meet critical human water needs; or
(c) there is an extremely high risk that water will not be available in the River Murray System to meet critical human water needs during the next 12 months.
86F Emergency responses to the reaching of trigger points
(1) If a water quality trigger point or salinity trigger point referred to in paragraph 86B(1)(c) is reached, the Authority must:
(a) in consultation with the Basin Officials Committee, formulate an emergency response to ensure that water in the River Murray System that is available to meet critical human water needs is returned to a state suitable for meeting critical human water needs; and
(b) subject to subsection (2), take the action necessary to implement the emergency response.
(2) The Authority must not take any action under paragraph (1)(b) that affects State water sharing arrangements or Border Rivers water sharing arrangements unless the Murray‑Darling Basin Ministerial Council has agreed to the action.
(3) Border Rivers water sharing arrangements are the agreements ratified by:
(a) the New South Wales‑Queensland Border Rivers Act 1947 of New South Wales; and
(b) the New South Wales‑Queensland Border Rivers Act 1946 of Queensland;
that deal with the distribution and use of surface water.
86G Effect of this Part on Authority and other agencies of the Commonwealth
(1) The Authority and other agencies of the Commonwealth must perform their functions, and exercise their powers, consistently with, and in a manner that gives effect to, the matters included or specified in the Basin Plan under this Part.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to the performance of a function, or the exercise of a power, that affects State water sharing arrangements or Border Rivers water sharing arrangements, unless:
(a) the Murray‑Darling Basin Ministerial Council has agreed to the Basin Plan applying to the performance of the function or the exercise of the power; or
(b) the performance of the function or the exercise of the power takes place at a time when, under clause 135 of the Agreement, the provisions of the Basin Plan required by this Part are taken to be a Schedule to the Agreement.
(3) To avoid doubt, subsection (1) does not apply to the Authority’s functions and powers under this Part.
86H Effect of this Part on other agencies and persons
(1) The Basin Officials Committee, an agency of a Basin State that is a referring State or an agency of the Australian Capital Territory must not:
(a) do an act in relation to Basin water resources if the act is inconsistent with any of the matters included or specified in the Basin Plan under this Part; or
(b) fail to do an act in relation to Basin water resources if the failure to do that act is inconsistent with any of those matters.