This chapter of the 2021 Plan responds to the challenges and opportunities identified in Chapter 9: Water of the 2019 Audit and reflects the key priorities and concerns of water sector stakeholders.
Infrastructure Australia has undertaken an extensive stakeholder engagement process in analysing the views and advice of key water sector bodies. From August 2019 to February 2020, Infrastructure Australia received 17 formal submissions to the Water chapter of the 2019 Audit. We consulted with water industry stakeholders representing: key industry bodies; consultancies; Australian, state and territory and local governments; and jurisdictional infrastructure bodies.
In October 2020, we ran a water sector workshop (co-hosted by Water Services Association Australia) that brought together leaders from the water sector, including government, industry and academia. Together, we discussed the opportunities and challenges faced by the industry.
In addition, Infrastructure Australia held several working group sessions with Engineers Australia and the Central NSW Joint Organisation.
The Water chapter is also supported by findings from resilience workshops that Infrastructure Australia delivered in partnership with Infrastructure NSW during 2020. These workshops aimed to identify sector priorities to recover from recent extreme events and identify a pathway to long-term resilience.