Australian Water Summit

SILVER SPONSOR

11th annual Successful Corporate Governance in the Public Sector 2008.

Pre-Conference Workshops :: Wednesday 5 March 2008

Workshop A: 9.30am - 12.30am

Part 1. Legal issues in water infrastructure projects
This part of the workshop will aim to increase participants understanding of the legal risks and issues associated with water projects, and will cover areas such as:

Defining the project
Choosing the contract Model
- Design and Build Approach
- PPP
- BOOT, BOO and DBO
Tenderer / Contractor entity
A discussion of risk (general risk concepts and risk allocation) review of Australian standard contract documents as they relate to risk allocation

Part 2. Socially responsible procurement –
putting it into practice
The second part of this workshop will analyse:

Water projects and the environmental impacts
Environmental externalities
Giving the environment a voice – identifying, measuring and valuing the externalities
The challenges to making this a reality

Led by:
Scott Alden, Partner, TressCox Lawyers

About your workshop leader:

Scott has over seven years of experience in both contentious and non-contentious commercial transactions.

Scott’s experience includes secondments to both the Sydney Catchment Authority and the State Transit Authority of New South Wales as Manager, Contracts and as a Contracts Officer. This work included drafting invitations to tender, negotiating tenders, evaluating tenders, administering the tender process, acting as probity adviser and finalising the contractual documents.

Scott has gained experience in a number of areas of law before specialising in infrastructure work and these include Commercial Contracts, Commercial Property, Intellectual Property, Commercial Litigation, and Industrial Relations.

Scott is the editor of the TressCox Projects and Infrastructure Division newsletter ‘Inside Infrastructure’ and regularly speaks at internal and external presentation on issues regarding government law, tendering and procurement, and probity. Scott co-founded and presented at the Inaugural Water Law Symposium in 2005.

Workshop B: 9.30am - 12.30am

Water strategies and risk appraisal in response to climate change

Climate change is expected to have a profound impact on rainfall patterns, volume and intensity. As witnessed in recent years, Australia can no longer be complacent about water supply. In some areas, reliable rain-fed sources may be a thing of the past. In the Nation’s north west region, higher and more intense rainfall events are likely to produce another set of problems — for example, the added storage capacity needed by mining operations to dispose of tailings.

This workshop will examine the science of climate change and interpret what it means for water policy, businesses and government. Participants will be provided with a tour of potential risks and economic impacts facing a range of sectors, including irrigated agriculture, mining, energy, plantation forestry and urban water users. This will be followed by an interactive session to explore the types of strategies for responding to the identified risks. The half-day workshop will cover:

A review of forecasted impacts on regional rainfall and water availability

Predicted changes in water demand

Risks facing various sectors of the economy

Recent modelling insights about the economic impacts of failing to manage the risks

Water strategies for responding to climate change
– technological options
– economics and practicalities
– the case for government intervention
– policy options
– prudent risk management strategies for businesses
– market instruments

The workshop is tailored for water planners, water policy makers, water supply businesses, mining interests, financial institutions and other decision makers with an exposure to water risk.

Led by:
Dr. Martin van Bueren, Senior Manager, Allen Consulting
Melissa Skilbeck, Director, Allen Consulting

About your workshop leaders:

	Martin is a leading practitioner in the fields of agricultural and natural resource economics. He has considerable expertise in water resource economics and management. He has worked on water allocation, pricing and wastewater issues for the Queensland, NSW and WA Governments, the Sydney Catchment Authority, ACTEW Corporation, Horticulture Australia, Pratt Water and Land & Water Australia — centred on modelling the scarcity value of water in rural settings, examining alternative pricing structures and estimating the impact of water reforms on the national economy. Martin also has specialist skills in non-market valuation (including choice modelling), benefit transfer, econometrics, survey design and administration, cost benefit analysis and R&D evaluation. Martin was a key adviser on water intermediaries for the National Water Commission and the Saying goodbye to water restrictions in Australia’s cities report

	Melissa’s consulting specialisations are in utility regulation, public policy analysis and program reviews. Melissa has examined development of intermediaries in water trading and contributed to a triple bottom line analysis of a major water recycling project. In 2002-2003 she reviewed economic policy issues for Melbourne’s metropolitan water retailers, contributing to the recent water policy reforms in Victoria. She has also assessed the nature and extent of possible impacts of two environmental risks — salinity degradation and biodiversity loss — for Victoria’s budget, advised the National Water Commission on improving confidence in water intermediaries for irrigation water trading and contributed to the Saying goodbye to water restrictions in Australia’s cities report released in 2007.

Workshop C: 1.30pm - 4.30pm

Reform of water governance frameworks – the issues and the answers

The investment that is occurring in new water sources and the challenge of managing water supply in the current drought is re-invigorating debate concerning water governance and institutional reforms.

The purpose of this interactive workshop is to demystify the governance and institutional issues arising in the water reform process. Participants will be taken through a review of water industry structure in Australia – what works and
what doesn’t.

This half day workshop will provide learning outcomes on the key components of water reform including:

Governance challenges of urban water management

Introducing competition in the water sector – what are the tradeoffs and how it should be managed

Vertical and horizontal integration

Decentralisation of decision making in water provision

What can we learn from the electricity model for water industry reform?

What are the lessons from other industries?

Planning and delivery options – should there be an obligation to supply and who should be required to comply

How should levels of service be determined?

Implications of unbundling and allocation of urban water entitlements

Principles of integrated water resource management and river basin management

Led by:
Euan Morton, Principal, Synergies Economic Consulting

About your workshop leader:

Euan Morton is a Principal at Synergies Economic Consulting, a company he formed in 2004. He advises extensively in the water industry on costing, pricing, planning, contractual, economic impact and policy issues. He was also an advisor to the Water Reform Unit and has advised bulk water suppliers, retailers, users, Governments and regulators. Euan has recently been appointed to an Expert Panel by the Ministerial Council on Energy to review regulatory arrangements associated with the ongoing reforms to energy markets. He is also an Independent Expert under the National Electricity Rules and a member of the Trade Practices Committee of the Law Council of Australia.