Community management of publicly owned irrigation schemes

The Tasmanian Government has a policy to facilitate community management of publicly owned irrigation schemes, where feasible and appropriate.

To enable this, legislative changes occurred in 2023 that amended existing legislation governing Tasmanian Irrigation’s operations, making it possible to delegate some powers and functions to irrigator groups. The Water Miscellaneous Amendments (Delegation and Industrial Water Supply) Act (the WMA Act) was passed by the Tasmanian Parliament in December 2023.

Tasmanian Irrigation supports community management of irrigation schemes where it makes sense. We are always looking for efficiencies in how we operate schemes, and if there’s a more efficient way for irrigators to access the schemes, we support that.

This fact sheet provides more detail of the legislative changes and what is permitted and not permitted under the changes.

Download Fact Sheet

Consulting with irrigators

Between May 2024 and January 2025, Tasmanian Irrigation undertook a consultation process with current Water Entitlement holders in publicly owned irrigation schemes, and key stakeholders. This included a series of consultation sessions across the state.

The two objectives of the process were to seek feedback on draft documents that will support applications for community management; and to set out the proposed approach to implementing community management and seek feedback and questions.

A presentation from the consultation sessions is available for download here.

Feedback was collected during consultation sessions (informal feedback) and via an online feedback mechanism (formal feedback). This feedback has been considered by Tasmanian Irrigation and incorporated, as appropriate, into documents that will support the application process for community management.

On this page, you can download a summary of the feedback received during Stage 1 and review changes made to draft documents as a result of that feedback. The documents include tracked changes to highlight where feedback has led to change.

Guideline for Applicants

Application Process flow chart

Application Form

This fact sheet provides more detail of the consultation process: Download Fact Sheet

Consultation is now closed. Tasmanian Irrigation extends thanks to everyone who took the time to provide feedback.

When will applications open?

Tasmanian Irrigation is working with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the Tasmanian Government to finalise matters that need to be in place before applications can open for community management.

During 2025, Tasmanian Irrigation is running a trial of the application and assessment process with the Winnaleah Irrigation Scheme Limited. This will “road test” the application documents and any learnings from the trial will be incorporated into the final set of documents made available when applications formally open.

We will communicate with all current water entitlement holders at the end of the trial with an update about the opening of applications.

Contact

If you have questions about the intent of the WMA Act or the consultation process, email consultation@tasirrigation.com.au or contact Tasmanian Irrigation on (03) 6398-8433.

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