We’ve been working to secure future regional prosperity across southern Victoria and involving our customers and stakeholders across the state in this conversation.
Our stakeholder collaborations for the Werribee Reconfiguration Project and Macalister Fresh projects have been particularly successful. This includes our customers, traditional owners, the environment, fellow water corporations, government agencies and potential funding partners. By listening, respecting each other’s needs, and pooling our strengths and knowledge we share a partnership towards achieving common goals: resilience and future prosperity.
The Werribee System Reconfiguration Project was identified as a key outcome of the Central and Gippsland Region Sustainable Water Strategy, and explores how the irrigation supply from the Werribee River can be substituted with more reliable recycled water to restore natural flows and make more river water available for urban development.
Southern Rural Water General Manager Strategy, People and Culture Elisa Hunter said this year’s focus has been talking with Werribee Irrigation District customers about the opportunity of high-quality, reliable recycled water for irrigation purposes.
“Feedback from discussions with customers has been essential for understanding what’s needed from their perspective to make reconfiguration a viable proposition,” Elisa said.
“We’ve respectfully and robustly discussed the projects potential benefits and challenges to inform the preliminary business case.
“Importantly, we’ve worked in a way that means our customer reference group is supporting the preliminary business case and wants to continue to work with us on the progress of this project.”
Project partners Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, Melbourne Water and Greater Western Water have pledged their support for the preliminary business case. A decision on the funding submission is expected mid-2025.
In Gippsland, we are well into phase three of the four phase Macalister Fresh project that’s also involved extensive customer and stakeholder engagement.
The aim of Macalister Fresh is to develop a plan that builds on the modernisation works already completed to create more economic, cultural and environmental benefits and drive further investment in the Gippsland region through to 2050.
Since we formed the stakeholder reference group in March 2024, we’ve held three workshops to bring the region’s diverse voices together.
Our first big win came in May when we agreed on a vision for the Macalister Fresh area that was informed by the aspirations of customers, businesses, government agencies and our community.
Southern Rural Water General Manager Service Delivery Simon Wilkinson said the vision underpins the plan and crystallises the collective priorities of stakeholders to allow us to make decisions in line with what we all want to achieve for a thriving future.
“Throughout the workshops, there’s been a strong sense of optimism and energy, with everyone excited about building on the region’s strengths,” he said.
“It’s been rewarding to work with such passionate stakeholders and see them work together to identify new opportunities that could attract both public and private investment, and importantly deliver lasting benefits for the Gippsland community.”
Simon said one of the highlights of the project this year was listening to Gus Dear from the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation talk about the aspirations of the Gunaikurnai people.
“Gus helped us better understand the significance of water to Country for our Traditional Owners and I’m confident our solid working relationship will allow Macalister Fresh to deliver good outcomes for local First Nations people,” he said.
We have recently finalised the decision-making framework that helps us identify potential projects that align with the Macalister Fresh vision and project pillars, our operating framework and government requirements.
Simon said our decision-making framework sets out a process to ensure we apply a consistent set of rules when considering opportunities and projects.
“We’ve developed this framework to guide us in our thinking and to show the community how we will assess projects objectively and prioritise them.
“The next step is to develop a consultation paper to invite discussion with customers and stakeholders about the future of the irrigation area,” he said.
We’re aiming to complete this work early next year and we’re on track to deliver a Macalister Fresh proposal that brings together all our work, highlights the opportunities, and the investment proposition.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers and stakeholders for the time, energy and commitment to working with us on both of our strategic projects. We look forward to achieving more wins with you in 2025.