Plans & Actions

Water security is a key concern for the community and requires a dual approach addressing demand and supply. This action focuses on the demand-side by reducing water consumption in our homes, gardens, schools, and community spaces. A variety of actions are needed, such as increasing the use of rainwater tanks in our towns, shifting to low- or no-water use gardens, improving the water efficiency of our appliances, reducing leaks and wastage, and changing our behaviour. Both Councils have established Drought Management Plans and water restriction policies and this project will focus on optimising these. In recent years, there has been a proliferation of behavioural change studies which have identified where the opportunities exist, which actions have the highest likelihood of being adopted, and those with the greatest impact. Often a mix of policy responses are required, from incentives and awareness campaigns to changing social norms, such as letting lawns go brown. Water savings span Council activities, such as how we prioritise water usage and green areas within our parks and gardens and the use of smart meters, leak detection systems and efficient irrigation, to activities suitable for large establishments, such as our schools and aged care homes. Finally, there are opportunities for individuals, particularly those who are connected to town water. Building public awareness through a water saving campaign will foster a sense of community around water conservation. It will encourage individuals and organisations to identify daily habits that may be contributing to excess water consumption, and how or what they can change to conserve water. This project will review Council’s existing policies and procedures and compare them with the latest research on demand management options. To avoid duplication of effort, the project will also review the approaches taken by other regional Councils, to identify exemplar approaches which would transfer well to our community. To demonstrate a shared commitment to the challenge of water conservation, the project will have a triple-focus - Council operations, our large community, institutions, and businesses and at the individual level within the home.

Council staff and others to push out information with Drought Support Map quickly and efficiently. 11. Develop communications collateral such as key messages, infographics, landing pages, email and social media templates, and flyers. 12. Review Drought Communications Plan on a one to two yearly basis to ensure methodology, channels, and messaging remains current.

Drought resilience requires an ‘all hands-on deck’ approach. Every individual, community organisation, government agency or industry body has a role. This includes sharing resources and information within their network, promoting the services offered by others, responding to feedback, and modifying their approach, or delivering individual elements as part of a collective effort. Bringing stakeholders together creates an opportunity for different voices to be heard and for a better understanding of the system to evolve. These joint discussions can shift the thinking from individual roles and responsibilities to understanding the root causes of shared challenges. The diversity of thought can allow new and innovative approaches to be explored. Often, the simple act of getting everyone in the one room can achieve substantial gains, allowing business cards to be swapped, synergies identified between different programs, and opportunities and benefits to be realised from sharing of resources. There is also a strong desire from the community to see more collaboration, summed up by the statement: A resilient community works together. Many of the ideas proposed during the Council and community workshops, necessitate a collective approach. Collaboration requires a catalyst and during the initial stages, can be time intensive. For example, stakeholders need to be identified, a mailing list created, a venue organised, a suitable date and time negotiated, and invitations sent. A successful event then requires a drawcard or hook to encourage people to make time in their busy calendars to attend. With a diversity of people from across organisations with various remits, there is benefit in the presence of a skilled facilitator who can guide these initial discussions. This includes identifying common ground amongst participants, shared challenges, and potential benefits from future collaboration. Follow-up events will then be used to build momentum, share interim progress, and opportunities for quick wins. Whilst a project officer would be initially responsible for organising and facilitating perhaps three events per collaborative cohort, it is hoped this will allow participants to establish the systems and processes to enable the groups to continue on an ongoing basis. The engagement activities provide guidance on priority areas for collaboration, being: • Agricultural land management practices, resources, research, and development to identify pathways to adapt to a changing climate and improve the preparedness and resilience to drought, • Community health and wellbeing focusing on coordination of services, referral pathways, service continuity, self-help options and training, social infrastructure and community activities and events, • Economic and workforce development, diversification, training, and awareness of available assistance programs, and • Environmental stewardship relating to local waterways and riparian corridors, remnant vegetation, indigenous land management practices and catchment- or landscape- scale activities. For this project’s governance it is envisaged that the Canberra Region Joint Organisation would coordinate and organise the activities, which would then be hosted by the respective Councils.

The Hilltops and Upper Lachlan region have some inherent water-related challenges. The Murray-Darling Basin, of which the Lachlan River forms part, is the most highly regulated river system in Australia. Whilst our Councils continue to advocate for our communities, we are just one of many voices who seek to influence how this system is managed. The Lachlan Regional Water provides some clarity on the future direction for our region, and we will continue to work collaboratively with all relevant stakeholders to further its implementation. Water security is a key element for drought resilient towns and communities in our region. Reduced water availability or quality can be economically damaging and extracts an emotional toll on our communities who are reliant on this surface water. Both our local Councils recognise the need for robust, well-maintained infrastructure to deliver water in appropriate quantities and qualities to allow our people, our businesses, our organisations, and our communities to thrive every day. The Integrated Water Cycle Management Plan identified that elements of our water supply infrastructure, such as weirs, bores, treatment, and storage may not meet security of supply targets. A long list of potential infrastructure projects were evaluated for their strategic alignment, drought resilience benefit, cost, availability of funding, and implementation. The following priority projects were shortlisted: • Harden to Boorowa pipeline. • Harden wastewater reuse. • Taralga water security. • Upper Lachlan groundwater. • Water resource information system. A pathway to implementation for each project has been outlined. This includes where supporting technical studies and approval processes are required as well as potential project investment funding sources. Steps for Implementation: 1. Identify opportunities to advocate for these projects, including the Regional Leadership Executive, Local, State, and Federal members and local government forums. 2. Continuously scan the NSW Safe and Secure Water Program, the NSW Regional Growth Fund, the Australian Government National Water Grid and other new or emerging funding programs to identify funding opportunities. 3. Incorporate messaging related to these projects, their objectives and community support into the Regional Drought Communications Plan action, where relevant. 4. Advocate for inclusion of these projects into the policies and plans of the Southern Inland Regional Development Australia, the Regional Economic Development Strategies for the Southern Tablelands and South Western Slopes, the NSW Regional Water Strategies and other Federal and State strategies where relevant. 5. Incorporate these projects and their objectives into existing Council planning documents, including, but not limited to the Community Strategic Plan. 6. Identify opportunities to gather additional data to utilise in the business case for each project, such as level of community support, impacts arising from constrained water quality or quantity. KPIs: • Number of projects progressing to the next stage of their implementation pathway. • Breadth of advocacy activities undertaken to further individual projects. • Number of submissions made advocating for these projects, or their objectives, to be incorporated into regional, State and Federal planning processes. Resilience Dividend: Social: • Reliable access to clean water underpins the functioning of our residences, institutions, and public spaces. Economic: • Secure water access is a key enabler of economic diversification and employment opportunities.

Drought has substantial impacts on community health and wellbeing. These impacts vary during and post drought, and from one drought event to the next. Community surveys are an effective tool in monitoring changes in the wellbeing of people living in the region. Whilst the focus is on drought impacts, it is also important to capture other events or factors which either contribute to, or erode, the resilience of individuals and their communities. Survey results can help to provide insights on the effectiveness of existing actions, services, and support. This information is key to understanding what parts of the system need to be improved. [Text cuts off at step 4]

The resilience of our community is underpinned by strong community networks and achieving individual physical and mental wellbeing. The community engagement identified the need to bolster intergenerational resilience from youth to the older generations. Improving individual resilience can start at the home, in the school, our workplaces or in our community groups. A variety of formal and informal programs exist. The challenge is to select the resources or programs which provide the best fit and to identify people or organisations who can champion their adoption in our community. Relevant stakeholders include State, Catholic and Independent schools and community organisations.

The expectations placed on our farming community are increasing from a diversity of sources whether it is government regulations, the demands of large corporations, consumer preferences or international events to name a few. These pressures include carbon emissions, ground and river water consumption, fertiliser and pesticide inputs, and on-farm biodiversity. Changing farm practices may create opportunities to diversify farm income, reduce input costs or create new markets. Change can be difficult and requires more than just knowledge, time, or resources to create awareness, intention and finally implementation. Every farm and farming family is unique, and we need to ensure that policies and programs are tailored to the needs of our farmers and address their particular suite of challenges. What works in the context of a cropping enterprise may not be appropriate on a mixed-use enterprise, or for a cherry or wine grower. By researching the motivations and barriers faced by our farming community, and seeking their input, we can identify solutions which will be practical and effective. Relevant stakeholders include the Department of Primary Industries, Local Land Services, philanthropic and university-based research organisations, farming industry groups and environmental land management organisations.

As our climate changes and droughts become more frequent or severe, we are likely to see a shift in agricultural activities undertaken in our region such as cropping, grazing, horticulture, and mixed enterprises. Whilst we cannot predict the future, we can think ahead to anticipate these future changes and the downstream impacts on our community, our economy, and our environment. From this, we can identify flexible strategies which can overcome or cope with potential changes, risks, and uncertainty. This future scenario planning can also involve back-casting:- a process which identifies desirable futures for our community, and involves working backwards to determine what needs to happen to make that a reality. For example, what do we need to maintain, where do we need to innovate, and what elements do we need to transform? The answers to these questions can then prompt discussions on how to fund the necessary changes, and what training or skills development are needed. Such a process requires collaboration and participation from farmers, industry groups, agricultural service providers, decision-makers at all levels of government and members of our community. These discussions can further improve community interest in drought resilience activities, economic diversification, and business continuity planning. Relevant stakeholders include local farming industry groups and representatives, local Business Chambers and the Regional Leadership Executive.

Redundancy is a key principle of resilience. We know that when drought conditions impact our region some agricultural-related work can decline. Similarly, our main street businesses are likely to see a reduction in trade as farmers and others restrict their spending in the face of declining or zero income. This can lead to some staff seeing their hours cut or in the worst case, let go from their job. Diversifying the skillset of our workforce allows people to seek alternative employment during a drought or improve their employment opportunities when times are good. The engagement carried out for the RDRP indicated strong support for diversifying skills and obtaining micro-credentials. The preference is for skills training to occur locally:- not everyone has access to a driver’s licence, or the time and money to travel to distant centres to participate in training. Collaboration is needed to realise synergies in securing participants from diverse backgrounds and groups and to achieve minimum numbers where necessary. We heard in the engagement of the need for training and education for people over 50, not just those leaving school. The training provided needs to match the skills needed within the region, such as aged care, or to take advantage of new projects, such as renewable energy. Promotion of training events is also critical to ensure those who would benefit most from the training are aware of upcoming courses and are in a position to participate. Relevant stakeholders include TafeNSW, local employment service providers, and Southern Inland Regional Development Australia

When times are good, there is a tendency for the challenges of drought to slip off the radar. Yet the ‘rainy-day’ is the perfect time to be planning for and improving preparedness for the next drought. An opportunity exists to leverage the existing networks in our region to maintain the momentum required to plan and prepare for drought. What this looks like will differ between networks. For our business community, drought can be woven into business continuity or diversification planning as well as small business month activities. For agricultural groups, this may mean addressing other stressors such as succession planning or financial skill development and exploring diversification opportunities. Relevant stakeholders include the Regional Leadership Executive, local Chambers of Commerce, and local chapters of farming industry groups.

A key theme which emerged from the engagement undertaken, was the need to optimise how information and events were promoted. Often people weren’t aware of available support or were unaware that a community meeting or event was coming up. Sometimes groups would organise events not realising theirs clashed with another event. Similarly, when community groups, businesses or agencies conduct events, they often find it hard to reach their intended audience. Different mediums are needed to reach our diverse community. Everyone in our community can play a role in linking people to available support. Whether it is sharing upcoming events via your business emailing list, State government agencies cross promoting events hosted by other agencies or re-posting an event flyer on your social media account. Each point of connection helps to build a stronger network and a stronger community. Relevant stakeholders include Canberra Region Joint Organisation, Department of Primary Industries, Local Land Services, Rural Financial Counselling Services, agricultural service providers, farming and business industry group and community organisations.

Young people are crucial to the ongoing prosperity of our region and are often absent from decision-making processes. Young people are less constrained by historical precedents or business as usual approaches. From a drought resilience perspective this means they may be more willing to change their land management or business practices, diversify their enterprise, or embrace emerging technology or markets. Young Professional Networks are recognised as an effective means to support personal and professional development, primarily through arranging events and networking opportunities. It remains to be determined which organisation would be best placed to host such a network, what actions and resources would be needed to establish one and what kind of model would work best in the region. Potential stakeholders include the NSW Office for Regional Youth and their Regional Youth Taskforce, Hilltops Council’s Youth Development Officer, and the Southern Inland Regional Development Australia.

Small Business Drought Resilience Planning. 5. Based on the outcomes of step 3, link surveyed businesses to available one-on-one support, such as the Rural Financial Counselling Service and Service NSW’s Business Concierge. 6. Where funding permits, provide mentoring and one-on-one support to local businesses. 7. Where project timelines permit, incorporate drought resilient themed activities within the Small Business Month event schedule.

This project will seek to establish a baseline of the drought preparedness and financial resilience of our businesses. It will link businesses to existing materials and support mechanisms and develop additional material where necessary. The project will also leverage existing networks and events, such as the Small Business Month, to raise the profile and adoption of drought impacts and financial resilience. In essence, we want to maintain the viability of individual businesses and hence the vitality of our main streets to help foster a shift towards more resilient business practices.

Drought periods often result in substantial losses in income and periods of zero or negative cash flow, which can threaten a farm’s short and long-term viability. This financial strain has diverse impacts, such as limiting the ability of farming families to purchase everyday necessities or reducing the participation in recreational and social activities. These combined impacts often lead to declining mental health. One option to reduce the risks associated with drought is to increase the diversity of on-farm income. By supporting our agricultural enterprises to modify their approach, by expanding their income sources, we can improve the resilience of individual farms and our local towns, as well as those businesses who rely on spend generated on-farm. Agritourism ventures can provide additional cash-flow during good years and, depending on the activity, a continued source of income during drought. The region is well positioned to attract agri-tourists, being situated on the main road route between Melbourne and Sydney combined with its close proximity to Canberra. Additionally, the region supports a diversity of agricultural activities such as cherries, wine grapes and grazing which can act as drawcards for tourists looking for authentic rural or food experiences. In 2022 and 2023, the NSW State Government made substantial changes to planning rules to address the growing adoption of agritourism. This was supported by multiple projects, including the Australian Regional Tourism’s National Agritourism Project, which produced a guide called Enabling Agritourism: Paving the Way for Successful Development Applications. This made a number of recommendations relating to local government which form the basis for this project. An equally important driver for this project, is the community’s desire for reduced ‘red tape’ and for ‘what we can do ourselves and not rely on others.’ Key components of this action include upskilling Council staff, ensuring alignment between agritourism objectives and local council planning processes, and providing potential applicants with relevant tools and guidance to capitalise on the opportunities whilst minimising some of the challenges associated with agritourism planning applications. These activities respond to the complexities of the planning approval process and the need to ensure agritourism occurs in a sustainable manner, reflective of community values. Where ‘red tape’ cannot be reduced, this project will seek to clearly articulate the approval pathway, reduce points of friction, and provide support where appropriate. Steps for Implementation: 1. Recruit a project officer or issue a request for quote (RFQ) for a contractor to deliver this action. 2. Canvas the need to establish a Working Group within each Council to support the management of agritourism planning approvals and associated activities, noting this decision will be influenced by the outcomes of steps 3 through 7. 3. Conduct capacity building activities with Council staff to develop an understanding of agritourism, the benefits and potential challenges. 4. Define the goals and objectives of supporting agritourism, from the perspective of landholders, the wider Community and Council. 5. Review local strategy and statutory planning requirements at Upper Lachlan Shire Council and Hilltops Council to ensure they align with the goals and objectives identified in Step 4 and make recommendations for any amendments as required. 6. Identify local advisors, such as financial planners, solicitors, and others, and support them with information which allows them to canvas with landholders, the diversification choice afforded by agritourism. 7. Develop flowcharts, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and other support materials to guide applicants and Council staff through the planning process, noting these may be different for internal and external stakeholders. 8. Test and validate material developed in Step 7 to ensure fit for purpose and update as required. 9. Host an information session to launch the materials and consider the need for an ongoing follow-up survey to monitor the effectiveness of project materials and identify remaining points or friction, and opportunities, to allow for ongoing adaptive management. 10. Develop supporting maps, brochures, and webpages to create an ecosystem of visitor experiences and support both existing and proposed ventures. KPIs: • Number of engagement and capacity building events held with stakeholders. • Flowcharts, FAQs, and support materials developed for use by applicants and each Council. • Feedback received from internal and external stakeholders on the materials developed. • Number of people attending the launch information session. • Feedback received from launch survey (if implemented). Resilience Dividend: Economic: • Diversifying farm income provides landholders with alternative sources of revenue, thereby improving their economic resilience. • By increasing the number and type of tourism offerings in the region, tourism numbers can be increased, attracting additional revenue for local town businesses. Social: • Exposing a wider audience to agriculture facilitates a greater understanding of where our food and fibres come from, and the challenges faced by our farming community. Environmental: • Improved revenue can provide landholders with additional capital to adopt more sustainable land management practices.

Coordinating Access to Mental Health ‘First-aid’ Training. 1. Secure funding and recruit a project officer for the duration of the Project. 2. Identify service providers offering in-person and online training, with a particular focus on programs tailored to rural and regional audiences. 3. Canvas locally-based entities who interface with farmers (e.g. agricultural service providers, banks, schools, sporting teams, Council, community groups) to identify need and desire to undertake training. 4. Communicate training needs with service providers to advocate for and coordinate the provision of training courses. 5. Collate training course dates, times, cost, and target audience, leveraging existing networks and event portals to promote wider visibility and uptake of available courses. 6. Consider producing a written, audio and/or video case study to assist in future promotion of mental health first-aid training. 7. Consider creating a landing page for the CRJO website, which provides a list of training providers, contact details and frequently asked questions to provide a lasting project legacy.