Water Act 1989

If the Minister makes a declaration under section 27(1), the Minister must appoint a consultative committee to prepare a draft management plan for the area that is the subject of the declaration.

The following provisions apply with respect to the membership of a consultative committee appointed under this section—

the Minister must make sure that, so far as is possible—

all relevant interests are fairly represented on the committee;

the membership consists of persons who have knowledge or experience in the matters to be covered in the management plan;

if there are one or more specified Aboriginal parties for an area that is wholly or partly within the area that is the subject of the declaration, the membership consists of at least one person who is a representative of one of the specified Aboriginal parties;

at least one half of the membership must consist of persons who are owners or occupiers of land in the area concerned appointed after consultation by the Minister with bodies representative of those persons;

any public statutory body which the Minister considers to be directly affected by the declaration must, after consultation by the Minister with it, be represented on the committee.

Unless the area that is the subject of the declaration is wholly within an urban area, the persons referred to in subsection (2)(b) must be farmers who own or occupy farming land in the area, appointed by the Minister after consultation with the Victorian Farmers Federation.

Section 318(2) to (6) applies to a consultative committee appointed under this section.