AGY-5308 | Northern Rivers Catchment Management Authority

Full description

Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs) were established across the state in January 2004 under the Catchment Management Authorities Act 2003 as part of broad Natural Resources Management reforms. (1)

Each Catchment Management Authority board consisted of a chairperson and up to six board members, who together provided a range of experience, skills and knowledge in areas such as primary production, cultural heritage, biodiversity conservation, business administration and governance. Each Catchment Management Authority also had a general manager and a small team of professional staff. (2)

The functions of each Catchment Management Authority were:

to develop catchment action plans and to give effect to any such approved plans through annual implementation programs
to provide loans, grants, subsidies or other financial assistance for the purposes of the catchment activities it is authortised to fund
to enter contracts or do any work for the purposes of the catchment activities it is authorised to carry out
to assist landholders to further the objectives of its catchment action plan (including providing information about native vegetation)
to provide educational and training courses and materials in connection with Natural Resource Management, and
to exercise any other function relating to Natural Resource Management as it is prescribed by the regulations. (2)

Northern Rivers Catchment Management Authority
The North Coast Region covers an area of approximately 50,000 square kilometres from the Camden Haven River in the south to the Queensland border and 160 kilometres inland. Major rivers are the Tweed, Brunswick, Richmond, Clarence, Bellinger, Nambucca, Macleay and Hastings. The Clarence River discharges five million megalitres each year, the highest of all the State’s coastal rivers. The region has over 550,000 people with growth centres around Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Ballina / Lismore and Tweed Heads, and the inland towns of Kempsey, Grafton, Casino and Murwillumbah. (4)

In 2007 the Head Office of the Northern Rivers CMA was located at Grafton. It also had offices at Alstonville, Armidale, Coffs Harbour, Kempsey and Murwillumbah. (5)

The Northern Rivers Catchment Management Authority was abolished on 1 January 2014 by the Local Land Services Act 2013 which replaced it with North Coast Local Land Services and Northern Tablelands Local Land Services. (6)

Endnotes
1. Combined Catchment Management Authorities Annual Report, 2003-2004, p.1; Catchment Management Authorities Act 2003 (Act No.104, 2003), s.6.
2. Catchment Management Authorites website http://www.cma.nsw.gov.au/index.html (cited 25 May 2007).
3. Ibid., p.3; Catchment Management Authorities Act 2003, s.15.
4. Northern Rivers Catchment Management Authority website http://www.northern.cma.nsw.gov.au/catchment.html (cited 25 May 2007).
5. Catchment Management Authorities website http://www.cma.nsw.gov.au/contact_cma.html (cited 25 May 2007).
6. Local Land Services Act 2013 (Act No.51, 2013) Schedule 6, cl. 4 (1) (a).