Community Advisory Committee - Murray Darling Basin Commission

Background

The Community Advisory Committee ( CAC ) of the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council is a formally appointed group of people with a wide range of expertise and networks throughout the Basin. The role of the CAC is to advise the Ministerial Council from a community viewpoint on critical natural resource management issues including indigenous issues within the Basin.

The CAC is composed of 22 members plus an independently appointed Chairman. Members are appointed for a term of four years and are selected on the basis of their skills, expertise and networks.

The terms of reference of the CAC are:

1. To advise the Ministerial Council on:

natural resource management issues referred to the Committee by the Ministerial Council; and
full range of views of Basin communities on natural resource management issues of significance within the Basin.

2. To assist the Murray-Darling Basin Initiative by disseminating within Basin communities, Ministerial Council's decisions in a way that promotes clear understanding of their context and rationale, and enhances their ownership and adoption.

3. To participate, as directed by Ministerial Council, in Basin community engagement programs and provide Ministerial Council with advice on the effectiveness of that engagement.

4. To participate, as directed by Ministerial Council, in policy development processes of the Commission and Ministerial Council.

The CAC meets four times a year in Canberra or at regional centres around the Basin. It also meets jointly with the Ministerial Council annually and periodically holds joint meetings or workshops with the Commission. CAC members may be appointed to Commission working groups and committees.

The CAC is supported by a secretariat based at the office of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission in Canberra.