AGY-1116 | Department of Land and Water Conservation

Full description

The Department of Land and Water Conservation was established on 6 April 1995 when the former Department of Conservation and Land Management, the Department of Water Resources and the Water Services Policy Division of the Department of Public Works were amalgamated.(1) The new Department also included the Catchment Assessment Commission and the National Resources Audit Council from the Cabinet Office.

The new Department centralised the natural resource management responsibilities previously spread across several administrative units.(2) The Department was responsible for helping the community to maximise the long-term benefits received from its natural resources through the management of nearly all of the State’s land, water, coastal, and vegetation resources, including maintenance of the property data bases critical to the economic and social security of the State in a concept known as ‘Total Catchment Management’.(3)

When the Department was established in 1995 it consisted of the following major branches: Lands Titles Office, Valuer-General’s Office, and the Land Information Centre; and the following sections: Natural Resources Policy Unit (this became the Office of Natural Resources Policy by 1996), Internal Audit section, Corporate Planning and Audit, and Government Relations and Executive Services.

The Office of Natural Resources Policy was established to provide integrated policy advice toward achieving sustainable land, water, forest, vegetation, and coastal resources management. The Office also provided policy and administrative secretariat services to the Forestry Advisory Council and the Water Advisory Council.(4)

By 1996, the Department’s work was organised under eleven major business or “programs” and they were: Integrated Natural Resources Information, Integrated and Strategic Natural Resources Policy, Forestry Policy, Catchment Management and Community Services, Coastal and Riverine Management, Soil and Vegetation Services, Water Resource Management, Major Water Infrastructure, Country Town Water, Sewerage and Drainage, State Lands Services, Spatial Land Information.(5)

On 18 April 1997, the Valuer General’s Office was established as a separate Department responsible to the Minister for Land and Water Conservation.(6) The regulatory and valuation functions of the former Valuer-General’s Office were split and two new organisations established. The Valuer-General’s Department became a regulatory body supervising the open tendering processes for contracts for mass valuation services in Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong. The second organisation remained within the Department of Land and Water Conservation and was titled the State Valuation Office. The Office operated on a commercial basis competing for contracts against private valuers in the three cities of Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong(7) and also provided valuation services in country areas by way of uncontested contracts with the Valuer-General.(8)

During 1997, the Department of Land and Water Conservation’s business and organisational structures were realigned and head office provided a regulatory and advisory role with the delivery of services to be performed in regional locations.(9)

By 1998, the Department consisted of the Land Titles Office, and sections for Executive Services, Business Development, and Marketing. Soil Services, Land NSW, and State Water were established as internal businesses to manage these resource operations. To ensure the separation of resource management and revenue generating activities in the management of the Crown Estate, Land NSW evolved into a commercially operated business unit of the Department.(10) By 1999, Land NSW provided complete land and property management services, and managing the sale, lease, or licence of Crown lands or other State owned property not required for public purposes.(11) Land NSW was a highly decentralised unit operating through fifteen district offices.

State Water was a commercial business of the Department responsible for rural bulk water supply and managed assets such as dams, weirs and their associated structures. The business was divided into four customer service areas – North, South, Central, and Coastal.

Soil Services was originally established as a commercial operation in 1990 and developed into an authority in soil conservation earthworks, offering rural and urban clients with services in two areas: Soilworks provided services in planning, designing, and constructing soil and water conservation earthworks, and Soilconsult provided fully commercial consultancy services on a broad range of areas associated with environmental protection.(12)

Following the State election in March 1999, administration of the Land Titles Office was transferred to the Department of Information Technology and administration of the State Valuation Office was transferred to the Department of Public Works and Services.(13)

On 2 April 2003, the Department of Land and Water Conservation was abolished and its branches transferred to other Departments.(14) The following staff and branches were transferred to the Ministry of Energy and Utilities: the State Water business unit, Town Water and Recycling Services branch and the group of staff principally involved in the administration of the Fish River Water Supply Scheme. The Soil Services Unit, Minor Ports Unit, and staff administering the Roads Act 1993 and the Crown Lands Act 1989 were transferred to the Department of Lands.(15) All other branches of the former Department of Land and Water Conservation were transferred to the Department of Sustainable Natural Resources.


ENDNOTES
1. New South Wales Government Gazette Special Supplement No. 39, 5 April 1995, p.1859.
2. Report of the Department of Land and Water Conservation for the year ended 30 June 1995, p3.
3. loc. cit.; Report of the Department of Land and Water Conservation for the year ended 30 June 1996, vol.1, p11.
4. Report of the Department of Land and Water Conservation for the year ended 30 June 1996, vol.1, p17.
5. ibid., p13.
6. Public Sector Management (Valuer-General’s Department) Order 1997, NSW Government Gazette No.40, 18 April 1997, p.2006.
7. Report of the Department of Land and Water Conservation for the year ended 30 June 1997, p7.
8. ibid., p56.
9. ibid., p9.
10. Report of the Department of Land and Water Conservation for the year ended 30 June 1998, p49.
11. Report of the Department of Land and Water Conservation for the year ended 30 June 1999, p17.
12. loc. cit.; Report of the Department of Land and Water Conservation for the year ended 30 June 2000, p14.
13. NSW Government Gazette Special Supplement No.42, 8 April 1999, p.2688.
14. NSW Government Gazette Special Supplement No.67, 2 April 2003, p.4328.
15. loc. cit..