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Richard Bull, Neil O'Keefe and Peter McCamish have taken the role of the Three Wise Men in deciding how to spend $375 million on the Snowy and Murray river systems.
They held their first meeting as independent directors of the Snowy Joint Government Enterprise yesterday and appointed former Albury City General Manager Mr Ray Stubbs as temporary business establishment officer.
The company chairman, Richard Bull, said Mr Stubbs would head a small office located in Albury but much of the work of analysing projects designed to improve environmental flows would require outside technical expertise.
A water advisory panel of experts will provide information as required to enable the trio to decide which projects to fund during the 10-year lifetime of the program.
Mr Bull said they had no time to waste as the company was committed to returning the first 36,000 megalitres a year to the Snowy River by July 2005, an aim that would require about $40 million.
Mr McCamish said there would be no on-farm projects but he believed the infrastructure improvements would benefit irrigators by introducing efficiencies and better service.
Mr O'Keefe said the company would not be in the business of approving someone's pet projects.
"We will be guided by a very objective basis to achieve the best value for the dollar of getting the most water back to the rivers," Mr O'Keefe said.
"It's fabulous that the three governments (of NSW, Victoria and Federal) have found a way of doing this together."
Mr Bull said the directors would meet early next month to prepare a business plan up to July 1, 2004, and another for the following financial year.
"Over 10 years we have to put back 212,000 megalitres of environmental flow to the Snowy and 70,000 megalitres to the Murray," he said.
The company would lead the way for what was proposed in the Living Murray strategy, but its resources were limited.
Richard Bull of Holbrook, former National party member of the NSW Legislative Council and Opposition agriculture spokesman.
Neil O'Keefe of Melbourne, former Labor MP and Federal Opposition spokesman on primary industries, Keating Government transport parliamentary secretary.
Peter McCamish of Shepparton, SPC Ardmona director and former irrigator.
By Howard Jones
The Border Morning Mail
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