Basin Officials Committee

The Murray–Darling Basin Officials Committee is established by the Murray–Darling Basin Agreement, Schedule 1 to the Water Act 2007 (Cwlth), as amended.

The committee will facilitate cooperation and coordination between the Commonwealth, the Murray–Darling Basin Authority and the Basin states in funding works and managing the Basin water and other natural resources.

Membership of the committee comprises officials from the six Basin governments, and the committee is chaired by the Commonwealth committee member. The authority’s Chair and Chief Executive are non-voting members of the committee.

Current members are:  Chair, Dr James Horne (Commonwealth); David Harriss (New South Wales); David Downie (Victoria); Scott Ashby (South Australia); Debbie Best (Queensland); David Butt (ACT).

The committee is responsible for providing advice to the Ministerial Council, and for implementing policy and decisions of the council on matters such as state water shares and the funding and delivery of natural resource management programs.

The committee has high-level decision-making responsibilities for river operations, including setting objectives and outcomes to be achieved by the authority in Murray River operations.
The committee has an advisory role in relation to the Basin Plan, including advising the authority about engaging the Basin states in preparation of the proposed plan.