New sites for water infrastructure projects, including dams, have been identified in the Australian Federal Governments new Agricultural Competitiveness Green Paper.
Chaired by Minister for Agriculture Barnaby Joyce, a ministerial working group outlined it recommendations for water infrastructure projects in the paper in a bid to help meet future water demands across Australia.
"Effective water infrastructure will be critical to the profitability and productivity of Australian agriculture into the future," Minister Joyce said. "Earlier this year I chaired a ministerial working group to identify how investment in dams and other water infrastructure could be accelerated and we shortlisted potential projects that can deliver Australia’s water supply needs in the future.
"We have now done the hard yards and taken an important step towards stimulating the discussion about how we get viable projects moving," he added.
Minister Joyce said the working group consulted with states and territories to consider projects worthy of further investigation and consideration by governments. The group will also be consulting government, industry and local communities on the perceived barriers to water infrastructure development and exploring ways to facilitate investment in water infrastructure.
In total, 27 projects were identified for possible commonwealth involvement in the paper, including Wellington Dam Revival project in Western Australia, Needles Gap Dam in New South Wales, Burdekin Falls Dam and Connors River Dam in Queensland, Northern Dams Upgrade in South Australia and Adelaide River Dam in the Northern Territory.
