4 weeks on from the North Queensland Conference: What did we learn?

At the beginning of August, S&B had the pleasure of travelling to Hamilton Island to join our industry professionals at the AWA North Queensland Conference.

Hosted by both Whitsunday and Mackay Regional Councils, this year’s event was all about the ‘jewels of the north’ and held in Hamilton Island it couldn’t have fit the bill better. This theme was reflected throughout the conference in the stories shared, the problems that were encountered and what was learned from them.

The start of the conference marked a moving event where we were welcomed to country by a representative of the Ngaro people – the aboriginal peoples of the island region surrounding Hamilton Island. We were welcomed by song and privy to the tale of the Rainbow Serpent, the story that explained the creation of the Islands as well as the Great Barrier Reef. In this story, we were inspired to think about our connection to land and sea and how the islands have managed their water security.

It prompted the question. What makes North Queensland unique?

Our stay on Hamilton Island was all about learning from the difficulties of the environment facing the north and the turn of weather quickly reflected a theme many of the stories shared: extreme weather and unpredictability.

North Queensland is known for its semi-arid and tropical environment, which is subject to extreme weather events. Despite being a part of North Queensland’s charms, this also provides a significant challenge for ensuring water security.

The region faces a few challenges as a result of its environment:

• Higher-than-average water demand
• Extreme weather (cyclones, flooding and drought)
• Remoteness
• Reliance on seasonal inflows as a water source (climate change)
• Climate dependent water schemes (risks to reliability)
• Open storages -> losses due to evaporation
• Run of the river intake
• Funding limitations

The problems encountered in the last couple of years exemplified these challenges.

For us, this conference highlighted a hopefulness amongst the communities. We heard stories of community support during Cyclone Jasper and the continued support between councils, government departments and consultants. A story that really resonated with us, was the story of Douglas Shire Council’s response to the cyclone. Told by the CEO of Douglas Shire Council, we explored what she did to ensure the council was able to manage survivability with water supply, despite significant issues with their networks and treatment plants and resulting loss of water on four separate occasions.

This story in particular led to some learned lessons that many wouldn’t like to hear: ‘ask permission, not forgiveness’, and ‘hope for the best but expect the worst’. But rightfully highlighted was an overlying issue – making sure your crisis management plans are fit for purpose.

The Great Barrier Reef and its protection was also highlighted throughout the conference. As a focal point of conservation throughout the north and important Wonder of the World, the main concern is always going to be its preservation and protection in light of climate change. This raised a very serious question: who’s responsibility is it to look after the reef?

Ten councils of northern Queensland currently put effort into ensuring the reef’s protection, and yet more and more is asked of councils to implement change. You can only ask a council to do so much, especially when a lot of the pressure elements lay outside their jurisdiction. Who’s responsibility is it to look after the reef? Arguably, everyone.

Overall, the conference reinforced to us the passion that we have in our water industry space and the willingness of people to create positive change in our communities. To us, the true jewel of the north isn’t just the environment, the beautiful islands or even the reef: it’s these people who work hard to protect them while ensuring our communities get the services they need.