The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder is not subject to the direction of the Secretary of the Department, or the Minister, in relation to doing any of the things referred to in paragraphs 105(2)(a) to (c).
108 Meaning of Commonwealth environmental water holdings
(1) Commonwealth environmental water holdings are:
(a) the rights that the Commonwealth holds that are water access rights, water delivery rights, irrigation rights or other similar rights relating to water; and
(b) the interests in, or in relation to, such rights.
Note: Water access rights acquired by the Commonwealth with amounts debited from the Water for the Environment Special Account form part of the Commonwealth environmental water holdings (see subsection 86AE(1)).
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), Commonwealth environmental water holdings include:
(a) rights of a kind referred to in paragraph (1)(a) that the Commonwealth holds on trust or holds as a lessee; and
(b) rights of a kind that the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder receives, on behalf of the Commonwealth, as donations.
(3) However, Commonwealth environmental water holdings do not include:
(a) water access rights, water delivery rights, irrigation rights or other similar rights relating to water; or
(b) interests in, or in relation to, such rights;
that:
(c) the Commonwealth (including any agency of the Commonwealth) holds for the purpose of the use of water by the Commonwealth (including any agency of the Commonwealth) in the performance of functions that are not related to its functions of water management under this Act; or
(d) the Commonwealth (including any agency of the Commonwealth) holds for the purposes of the Living Murray Initiative (including rights or interests that vested in the Authority under section 239C having been held for that purpose by the Murray‑Darling Basin Commission before the commencement of Part 10A).
109 Operating rules
(1) The Minister may, by legislative instrument, make rules (operating rules) relating to the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder:
(a) purchasing, disposing of and otherwise dealing in water and water access rights; and
(b) entering into contracts (including options contracts) for the purposes of such purchasing, disposal or other dealing.
(2) Operating rules that the Minister makes under subsection (1) must not:
(a) impose obligations on any person other than the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder; or
(b) have the effect of overriding or limiting the operation of a law of a State.
110 Application of State laws to the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder
(1) Any requirement of a law of a Basin State that prevents a person from:
(a) using, on land that the person does not own, water available under a water access right; or
(b) obtaining a licence that would authorise the use, on land that the person does not own, of water available under a water access right;
does not apply to the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder in relation to the use of Commonwealth water holdings:
(c) to water declared Ramsar wetlands; or
(d) to water water dependent ecosystems that support:
(i) listed threatened species (within the meaning of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999); or
(ii) listed threatened ecological communities (within the meaning of that Act); or
(iii) listed migratory species (within the meaning of that Act); or
(e) to water sites specified in the regulations.
(2) This section does not authorise the environmental watering of land without the consent of the owner of the land.
Division 2—Environmental Water Holdings Special Account
111 Establishment of the Environmental Water Holdings Special Account
(1) The Environmental Water Holdings Special Account is established by this section.
(2) The Account is a special account for the purposes of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.
112 Credits of amounts to the Account
(1) There may be credited to the Account:
(a) all money appropriated by the Parliament for the purposes of the Account; and
(b) amounts received by the Commonwealth in connection with the performance of the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder’s functions under this Act; and
(c) amounts paid by a Basin State, under an agreement between the Commonwealth and the State, for crediting to the Account; and
(d) amounts equal to money received by the Commonwealth in relation to property paid for with money from the Account; and
(e) amounts equal to amounts of any gifts given or bequests made for the purposes of the Account.
Note: An Appropriation Act provides for amounts to be credited to a special account if any of the purposes of the special account is a purpose that is covered by an item in the Appropriation Act.
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(e), amounts received by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, on behalf of the Commonwealth, as gifts or bequests are taken to be gifts given or bequests made for the purposes of the Account.
113 Purpose of the Account
(1) This section sets out the purposes of the Account.
(2) Amounts standing to the credit of the Account may be debited for the following purposes:
(a) in payment or discharge of the costs, expenses and other obligations incurred by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder in the performance of the functions of the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (including doing any of the things referred to in subsection 105(2));
(b) meeting the expenses of administering the Account.
(3) For the purposes of this section, the expenses of administering the Account do not include the cost of salaries of the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder or the staff referred to in section 116.
Division 3—Reporting requirements
114 Annual report
Annual report to be given to Minister
(1) The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder must, as soon as practicable after 30 June in each financial year, prepare and give to the Minister a report on the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder’s operations during that year.
Contents of annual report
(2) The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder must include in the report particulars of the following:
(a) achievements against the objectives of the environmental watering plan;
(aa) for each disposal of water or Commonwealth environmental water holdings by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder during the year:
(i) sufficient information to identify the water or water holdings disposed of; and
(ii) the amount of the proceeds of the disposal;
(ab) the purposes for which the proceeds of disposals of water or Commonwealth environmental water holdings have been used during the year;
(b) management of the Environmental Water Holdings Special Account;
(c) all directions that the Secretary of the Department, or the Minister, gave to the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder during the year.
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 on which 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.
Division 4—Appointment, staff and delegation
115 Appointment
The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder is to be engaged under the Public Service Act 1999.
116 Staff
The staff necessary to assist the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder are to be persons engaged under the Public Service Act 1999 who are:
(a) employed in the Department; and
(b) made available for the purpose by the Secretary of the Department.
117 Delegation
The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder may, by signed instrument, delegate all or any of his or her powers under this Act to an SES employee or acting SES employee.
Part 7—Water information
Division 1—Application of this Part
118 Geographical application of this Part
This Part extends to every external Territory.
119 Application of this Part limited to certain legislative powers
(1) This Part has effect to the extent to which it is a law with respect to one or more of the following:
(a) census and statistics (within the meaning of paragraph 51(xi) of the Constitution);
(b) meteorological observations (within the meaning of paragraph 51(viii) of the Constitution);
(c) weights and measures (within the meaning of paragraph 51(xv) of the Constitution);
(d) external affairs (within the meaning of paragraph 51(xxix) of the Constitution).
(2) This Part has effect to the extent to which it confers rights or imposes obligations, or relates to the conferral of rights or the imposition of obligations, on constitutional corporations.
(3) This Part has effect to the extent to which it is within the implied power of the Parliament to make laws with respect to nationhood.
(4) Subsections (1), (2) and (3) (and the paragraphs of each of those subsections):
(a) have effect independently of each other; and
(b) do not limit the operation (if any) that this Part validly has apart from this section.
Division 2—Functions and powers of the Bureau and Director of Meteorology
120 Additional functions of the Bureau
The Bureau has the following functions in addition to its functions under the Meteorology Act 1955:
(a) collecting, holding, managing, interpreting and disseminating Australia’s water information;
(b) providing regular reports on the status of Australia’s water resources and patterns of usage of those resources;
(c) providing regular forecasts on the future availability of Australia’s water resources;
(d) compiling and maintaining water accounts for Australia, including a set of water accounts to be known as the National Water Account;
(e) issuing National Water Information Standards;
(f) giving advice on matters relating to water information;
(g) undertaking and commissioning investigations to enhance understanding of Australia’s water resources;
(h) any other matter, relating to water information, specified in the regulations.
121 Contents of the National Water Account
The National Water Account is to include such matters (if any) as are specified in the regulations.
122 Publishing water accounts
(1) The Director of Meteorology must annually publish the National Water Account in a form readily accessible by the public.
(2) The Director of Meteorology may publish other water accounts from time to time.
(3) This section does not prevent parts or all of the National Water Account, or any other water accounts, from being updated at any other time.
123 Publishing water information
(1) The Director of Meteorology may at any time publish, in a form readily accessible by the public, particular water information that the Bureau holds.
(2) However, the Director of Meteorology must not:
(a) publish particular water information if he or she believes it would not be in the public interest; or
(b) publish water information in a way that expressly identifies an individual’s water use, unless the water information:
(i) is already published; or
(ii) is otherwise publicly available in a form that expressly identifies the individual’s water use.
Division 3—Water information
124 Object of this Division
The object of this Division is to enable the Bureau to fulfil its function of collecting water information.
125 Meaning of water information etc.
In this Act:
water information means:
(a) any raw data, or any value added information product, that relates to:
(i) the availability, distribution, quantity, quality, use, trading or cost of water; or
(ii) water access rights, water delivery rights or irrigation rights; or
(b) any metadata relating to data of a kind referred to in paragraph (a);
and includes contextual information relating to water (such as land use information, geological information and ecological information).
126 Giving of water information to the Bureau
(1) A person specified in the regulations, or included in a class of persons specified in the regulations, must give to the Bureau a copy of water information of a kind specified in the regulations that is in the person’s possession, custody or control (whether held electronically or in any other form).
(2) The copy must be given to the Bureau within the time specified in the regulations.
(3) The water information contained in the copy:
(a) must be given in the form or manner specified in the regulations; and
(b) must comply with any applicable National Water Information Standards.
(4) A person must not contravene an obligation imposed on the person under this section.
Civil penalty: 50 penalty units.
(5) A person must not, in purported compliance with a requirement under this section, give to the Bureau information that is false or misleading in a material particular.
Civil penalty: 60 penalty units.
(6) Subsection (4) does not apply to the extent that the person has a reasonable excuse. However, a person does not have a reasonable excuse merely because the water information in question is:
(a) of a commercial nature; or
(b) subject to an obligation of confidentiality arising from a commercial relationship; or
(c) commercially sensitive.
127 Director of Meteorology may require water information
(1) The Director of Meteorology may, in writing, require any person, or each person included in a class of persons, to give specified water information to the Bureau:
(a) within a specified period of time; and
(b) in a specified form or manner; and
(c) in accordance with any applicable National Water Information Standards.
(2) A person must not fail to comply with a requirement under this section.
Civil penalty: 50 penalty units.
(3) A person must not, in purported compliance with a requirement under this section, give to the Bureau information that is false or misleading in a material particular.
Civil penalty: 60 penalty units.
(4) Subsection (2) does not apply to the extent that the person has a reasonable excuse. However, a person does not have a reasonable excuse merely because the water information in question is:
(a) of a commercial nature; or
(b) subject to an obligation of confidentiality arising from a commercial relationship; or
(c) commercially sensitive.
128 Prohibitions on disclosure of information do not apply
This Division has effect despite any law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory prohibiting disclosure of the information.
129 Ownership etc. of information unaffected by its disclosure
(1) Giving information under this Division does not affect a person’s property rights with respect to that information.
(2) This section does not prevent the use of the information by the Bureau for any purpose that is relevant to any of the Bureau’s functions under this Act or any other Act.
Division 4—National Water Information Standards
130 National Water Information Standards
(1) The Director of Meteorology may, by legislative instrument, issue National Water Information Standards relating to water information.
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the National Water Information Standards may deal with all or any of the following:
(a) collecting water information;
(b) measuring water;
(c) monitoring water;
(d) analysing water;
(e) transmitting water information;
(f) accessing water information;
(g) retaining and storing water information;
(h) reporting water information;
(i) water accounting;
(j) any other matter relating to water information that is specified in the regulations.
131 Adoption of other standards
(1) In issuing National Water Information Standards, the Director of Meteorology may make provision in relation to a matter by applying, adopting or incorporating, with or without modification, any matter contained in a standard:
(a) as in force or existing at a particular time; or
(b) as in force or existing from time to time;
that relates to water information and that any other person or body has made or issued.
(2) Subsection (1) has effect despite anything in subsection 14(2) of the Legislation Act 2003.
(3) If the Director of Meteorology makes provision in relation to a matter by applying, adopting or incorporating a matter contained in a standard that another person or body has made or issued, the Director of Meteorology must ensure that:
(a) the text of the matter applied, adopted or incorporated is made publicly available on the Bureau’s website, unless that text is set out in the relevant National Water Information Standard; and
(b) if the text of the matter is applied, adopted or incorporated as in force or existing from time to time—any subsequent amendments of that text are made publicly available on that website.
132 Consultations in preparing National Water Information Standards
(1) The Director of Meteorology must consult with the States in preparing National Water Information Standards.
(2) In preparing National Water Information Standards, the Director of Meteorology may undertake such other consultation as he or she considers appropriate.
133 Compliance notices
(1) If a person has contravened a requirement of the National Water Information Standards, the Minister or an authorised person appointed by the Minister may give the person a notice requiring the person to rectify the contravention, and comply with that requirement, within the time specified in the notice.
(2) A person must not fail to comply with a notice given to the person under this section.
Civil penalty: 60 penalty units.
(3) Subsection (2) does not apply to the extent that the person has a reasonable excuse.