One of the conversations that retiring Water Minister Lisa Neville has had with her replacement is over water entitlements for Traditional Owners.
Ms Neville stepped down from her portfolio in June after more than six years due to health concerns, and will leave parliament when the state election comes around in November.
She created the opportunity to become the first water minister to preside over the first transfer of water entitlements to Indigenous groups this year, but the process has a long way to go.
Just after she stepped down, DELWP released the draft of a roadmap which sets out some broad principles and opinions on how this policy could be implemented.
Ms Neville agrees the area is a complex and sensitive one, with so many different parties to negotiate with, across a very diverse Victorian landscape.
The government will also have to find the water first, knowing it has promised not to take the water from existing entitlement holders.
“We have been able to find that in small areas,” Ms Neville said.
“We don’t have excess water and one of the commitments we have made is that we are not taking water off existing entitlement holders.
“But it is about giving Traditional Owners a say and being involved in decision making.
“Yes, it is a complex area.
“There is some uncertainty and concern, but that will dissipate as we work through that roadmap.”
Shortly after her elevation into the ministry, she toured western Victoria which was suffering from drought and convinced the premier to invest in some infrastructure to assist farmers to get access to water.
Irrigators in northern Victoria appreciated her stand on buybacks, despite being in apparent conflict with her federal Labor colleagues.
The Victorian government had to invest in work to show that taking more water out of the hands of irrigators would be detrimental to the rural communities.
“I hope that work and knowledge is there to continue to reassure communities and it can be prosecuted to protect those communities who have already given up significant water to the environment,” Ms Neville said.
“There are significant protections entrenched in the plan that are not easy to change.”
During her elevation in seniority in the cabinet, Ms Neville had some input into her choice of portfolios, which were allocated by the premier, but had not given up the water job, even when she was promoted to police minister, and thus held the unusual combination of water and police portfolios simultaneously.
“I love water. When I got water I had not been a shadow minister and had not really been engaged,” she said.
“I was given an opportunity to do something I fell in love with.
“It just got into my bones. I had asked and hoped to stay on as water minister after the first four years. In 2018 leading to the last election, I was really pleased to keep it.”
Ms Neville worked hard to get an understanding of long-term issues and she believes that the first four years was actually not enough to get across the complex issues.
She earned the respect of her colleagues to the point where her views on water became the government’s views.
She also became the longest serving water minister in Victoria’s history.
“For me, what I realised quickly was how important it was to so much Victorian life, whether it was the environment, economy, our ability to prosper, it is essential to so many other decisions that government needs to make.
“I miss it immensely now.”
Weeks after she made the decision to quit the ministry, Ms Neville acknowledged that she was still processing the issues around the decision, but was comfortable in knowing it was the right one and the right time to go.
Ms Neville said she won’t be giving up working in public life but would be involved in a different way.
“I haven’t got anything lined up. But I hope for something with a better balance in terms of my health.”
18°C