of planning at a catchment scale, the informed decision. DELWP will play a role as a broker larger boundary may favour larger of information to those forums projects as opposed to smaller more councils will not attend. localised projects. Councils will also need to show how projects that they seek external funding for fit into a bigger regional picture. It is unclear for councils who sit within multiple regions about where and how they should participate. Some councils are concerned that they will not be able to feasibly participate because their resources will be stretched between multiple numbers of forums. Institutional There are internal contradictions in the The framework provides an opportunity Communication messages arrangements framework. On the one hand there is a to work outside of the current need to be developed and stakeholder strong focus on agencies institutional arrangements where there emphasising that the involvement understanding institutional is a shared vision and community need. purpose of the forums is to arrangements (p 12), while at the same facilitate shared planning Rather than focussing on ‘clarifying’ time a recognition of the need to be and flexible delivery arrangements (p 12), it would be flexible and work outside of the options. beneficial for the framework to focus on institutional arrangements. how IWM has a purpose which There are many reviews occurring on transcends individual accountabilities institutional arrangements which may providing the opportunity to innovatively lead councils to be concerned about the deliver a shared vision, often with
of planning at a catchment scale, the larger boundary may favour larger projects as opposed to smaller more localised projects. Councils will also need to show how projects that they seek external funding for fit into a bigger regional picture. It is unclear for councils who sit within multiple regions about where and how they should participate. Some councils are concerned that they will not be able to feasibly participate because their resources will be stretched between multiple numbers of forums. DELWP will play a role as a broker of information to those forums councils will not attend. informed decision. Institutional arrangements and stakeholder involvement There are internal contradictions in the framework. On the one hand there is a strong focus on agencies understanding institutional arrangements (p 12), while at the same time a recognition of the need to be flexible and work outside of the institutional arrangements. There are many reviews occurring on institutional arrangements which may lead councils to be concerned about the The framework provides an opportunity to work outside of the current institutional arrangements where there is a shared vision and community need. Rather than focussing on ‘clarifying’ arrangements (p 12), it would be beneficial for the framework to focus on how IWM has a purpose which transcends individual accountabilities providing the opportunity to innovatively deliver a shared vision, often with Communication messages need to be developed emphasising that the purpose of the forums is to facilitate shared planning and flexible delivery options.
Submission-to-Integrated-Water-Management-Framework-for-Victoria-Jan-2017.docx