In December 2011, Minister Butcher announced that the Queensland Water Regional Alliance Program has not only received an extension for work beyond 30 June 2022, but that $2 Million per annum will be a permanent allocation.
This created a significant opportunity for the now very large number of participating councils in regional Queensland to plan longer term collaborations, building on the program’s past successes. While they are not the sort of numbers that help build treatment plants or undertake major renewals, the model has clearly demonstrated success in achieving efficiencies through collaboration at a regional scale.
The program is now a decade old and we would like to acknowledge all of the past champions from collaborating councils along with LGAQ, qldwater staff and the staff from the Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water who have worked hard to secure the future of the work.
Importantly though we recognise the efforts of Dr Rob Fearon as Program Manager since the start. Rob’s passion, drive, research and planning capacity and diplomacy has seen close to statewide coverage now with 9 active regions. The formalisation of this work as an ongoing state-supported activity is a huge achievement for the benefit of Queensland communities.
Following the announcement of permanent funding, the three partner organisations have held a series of workshops to set the strategic direction for the program going forward.
Workshop 1 included a SWOT analysis of the regions, defining the roles and responsibilities of the Chairs and Coordinators and reviewing the maturity model.
Workshop 2 delivered a revised Vision, Mission and Priorities statement, a new program structure and removal of the maturity model to access funding. The Department also agreed to provide funding to engage an agency to develop a new brand and a stakeholder engagement plan.
Workshop 3 included discussions around service provider sustainability and what that means for QWRAP, how the maturity model and bidpool application principles work together. The group also agreed on the Terms of Reference for the PSC and the Working Group.
QWRAP Program Structure
Partner Steering Committee: sets strategic direction and monitors program scope, activities and progress.
Working Group: Draft yearly priorities and action plan in line with strategic direction and prepare KPIs for PSC.
Program Sponsor: RDMW to oversee the program on behalf of the Queensland Government.
Program Administrator: LGAQ
Program Manager: qldwater
Vision, Mission and Priorities
Below is an extract out of the Vision and Mission document with the 4 Strategic Priorities identified.
Building sustainable service models in remote regional communitiesAugust 6, 2024 - 10:05 am
South West QWRAP Collaboration Attracts Graduate EngineerJuly 20, 2024 - 9:09 am
Spotlight on Mount IsaJune 30, 2024 - 9:00 am
Improving Nitrogen Detection TechnologyFebruary 18, 2022 - 9:00 am
Northern Queensland Research on ContaminantsMarch 12, 2021 - 9:00 am
Smoothing out the Infrastructure CliffNovember 22, 2020 - 9:09 am
HR/IR ToolkitApril 19, 2024 - 9:00 am
