Dorset Waterwatch Group Inc. P.O. Box 360, Scottsdale, Tas. 7260 Ph: 03 6352 3429 Fax: 03 6352 3829 29/3/04 Mr. John Feil Executive Director National Competition Council GPO Box 250B Melbourne, Vic. 3001 Dear Mr Feil, Please find attached documents that we wish you to accept as Dorset Water Watch’s submission to the National Competition Council assessment for water reform. The document and correspondence relates to the development of the Great Forester Catchment Water Management Plan in North East Tasmania, a process that Dorset Water Watch has been involved in since it’s inception. We have opted to send the NCC our submission to the Resource Management and Planning Appeals Tribunal hearing held in October 2003, in Tasmania, where the Plan was appealed against by the Tasmanian Conservation Trust. Dorset Water Watch was a party to the proceedings, where we presented community concerns over process issues we felt had greatly marred the development of a balanced Plan. At the same time, we offered suggestions for advancing good water management from a community perspective, in light of the precedent set for future water management planning within this state, by the Great Forester Catchment Water Management Plan. We have also included correspondence between Dorset Water Watch and the Department of Primary Industries, Water and the Environment, outlining our concerns and proposals for creating a more community driven process. We have yet to hear whether the Department intends to implement any of our proposed actions. As a purely volunteer organisation with limited resources, we don’t wish to reinvent the wheel and rewrite the entire submission, as we believe it targets many areas relevant under your assessment framework. We hope you will accept these documents as submitted. Thank you for the opportunity to bring these issues to light and we hope they are of benefit to the NCC in its assessment process. Regards, Mrs. Kim Eastman Chairman