e-News Edition #72 New

Date: 10-Sep-2026

Welcome to Edition 72 of the Irrigation Australia e-News. This edition opens with two deadlines that both fall on Friday 18 September, the close of voting in the 2026 Board election and the close of the Ozwater'27 call for papers. We look at the 1 December coastal metering deadline in New South Wales, a new guide for Western Australian employers thinking about an Irrigation Technician apprentice, the Riverina milling job cuts and what the irrigators' council said about them at the Bush Summit, and a Murrumbidgee general security allocation that has lifted to 34 per cent. We hold two October dates, Smart Water Connect on 13 October and National Water Week from 19 to 25 October, ask you to check your entry in the Certification Directory, and open the Summer edition of The Overflow for contributions. This edition also opens a new regular feature: a fortnightly update from Peter Durand, our Acting General Manager, on what Irrigation Australia is working on and why it matters to your business.

Hot Topics

From Peter: Your Fortnightly Irrigation Australia Update
Ozwater'27 Call for Papers Closes 18 September
NSW Coastal Metering: Under Three Months to 1 December
A Simple Guide for Western Australian Employers Taking On an Apprentice
ARO College Recognised with an AIH Award of Excellence
Riverina Milling Cuts, and What the Irrigators' Council Said About Them
Murrumbidgee General Security Lifts to 34 Per Cent
Check Your Entry in the Certification Directory
Smart Water Connect: Sydney, Tuesday 13 October
National Water Week, 19 to 25 October, and Water Night on 23 October
The Summer Overflow Wants Your Project

1. From Peter: Your Fortnightly Irrigation Australia Update

Welcome to the first of my fortnightly updates in e-News. I'll use this space to share what Irrigation Australia is working on, explain why it matters to members and highlight information you can use in your business or day-to-day work. I also want this to be a two-way conversation, with your feedback helping us focus our effort where it will make the greatest difference.

Two recent examples are practical skills and metering readiness. Our introductory irrigation session at Greenscapes helped participants build their understanding of irrigation fundamentals. In coastal New South Wales, we have completed an initial check of installer capacity to inform our work on helping affected members and their customers prepare for metering requirements. Both reflect the value we want Irrigation Australia to deliver: stronger industry capability and useful, relevant information.

What is one issue, recurring customer question or skills gap you would like Irrigation Australia to help address? Please email info@irrigation.org.au and let me know. Your input will help shape these updates and our priorities, and I'll use future editions to report back on the work that follows.

Peter Durand, Acting General Manager

Send Peter your feedback

2. Ozwater'27 Call for Papers Closes 18 September

The Australian Water Association has opened the call for papers for Ozwater'27, which runs from 4 to 6 May 2027 at the International Convention Centre in Sydney. Abstracts close on Friday 18 September 2026. Ozwater is the largest water event in the country and the irrigation sector is consistently under-represented in the program, a gap that deserves to be addressed.

There are thirteen themes and several of them are squarely irrigation work, including Rural, Remote and Regional Water, Resilience and Water Security for the Future, and Climate Change and Extreme Events. If you have run an efficiency project, a retrofit, a metering rollout or a scheme upgrade with numbers attached to it, that is an abstract. It does not need to be a research paper. If you are thinking about submitting and want a second read before you send it, contact us at info@irrigation.org.au.

Ozwater'27 themes and submission guide

Ozwater'27

3. NSW Coastal Metering: Under Three Months to 1 December

Coastal water users in New South Wales whose works are nominated by a total licence entitlement of 100 ML or more must have a compliant, pattern-approved meter installed and validated by a Duly Qualified Person by 1 December 2026. Works nominated by more than 15 ML and less than 100 ML have until 1 December 2027, or the renewal of their work approval, whichever is later.

Installer availability is the practical problem, not the rule. The Certification Directory lists every Certified Meter Installer and Validator in the country and is the fastest way for a coastal water user to find one. We are still gauging demand for additional Certified Meter Installer training on the New South Wales coast. If your business would send staff to a coastal course, or you are a water user who cannot find an installer, tell us at info@irrigation.org.au.

Find a Certified Meter Installer and Validator

NSW non-urban metering guidance

4. A Simple Guide for Western Australian Employers Taking On an Apprentice

There is a new guide for Western Australian employers considering an Irrigation Technician apprentice, produced by the Food, Fibre and Timber Industries Training Council (WA). It is two pages and it answers the questions employers actually ask. The apprenticeship runs 36 months full time and the training component is the nationally recognised AHC32424 Certificate III in Irrigation Technology. There are two ways in: employ the apprentice directly, or host one employed by a Group Training Organisation, which leaves payroll, leave and superannuation with the GTO. The guide names the Group Training Organisations and the Apprentice Connect Australia Providers to call, and an apprenticeship cannot be formally established without one of those providers.

The money is worth knowing before you decide. Eligible employers can receive up to $8,500 through the Jobs and Skills WA Employer Incentive, with additional loadings for Aboriginal apprentices, regional Western Australia, mature-age apprentices, people with disability and priority occupations. The Australian Government Priority Hiring Incentive adds $2,500 for a full-time apprentice or $1,250 part-time, where the qualification and occupation meet the Priority List. Training itself is subsidised for eligible apprentices through Jobs and Skills WA. Incentives change, so confirm what applies to you with a provider before you sign anything. When we searched SEEK in early September there were more than 170 irrigation technician listings advertised in Western Australia, so the demand these apprentices would meet is already on the board.

Download the employer guide

Food, Fibre and Timber Industries Training Council (WA)

5. ARO College Recognised with an AIH Award of Excellence

Irrigation Australia member ARO College has received the Australian Institute of Horticulture's Award of Excellence, presented at the Institute's biennial conference and awards dinner at the National Wine Centre in Adelaide on Saturday 5 September. The citation recognises the ARO College training team's outstanding dedication to horticulture education across regional communities, and the award was sponsored by Aviso Specialty.

The award comes in ARO College's 25th year and recognises its long-standing work across agriculture, horticulture and landscape construction, including irrigation. The College is an Australian owned registered training organisation based at Hahndorf in South Australia, delivering nationally recognised qualifications at Certificate III, IV and Diploma level across eleven areas, with trainers who deliver and assess at the participant's own worksite. It is good to see a member recognised for its contribution to building practical skills and capability across regional Australia.

Read more from ARO College

Australian Institute of Horticulture

6. Riverina Milling Cuts, and What the Irrigators' Council Said About Them

SunRice confirmed in August that it would cut 78 jobs and change a further 92 positions at its Deniliquin and Leeton mills, after a sharply reduced rice crop. The company employs around 650 people in the region and has pointed to drought and to water recovery as the causes. Whatever weight you give each of those, the operational fact for irrigation businesses in the southern Basin is a smaller customer base with less water to apply.

At the National Bush Summit in Dubbo on 27 August, National Irrigators' Council chief executive Zara Lowien said that around a third of water has been taken out of farming over three decades and that farmers cannot keep absorbing the change. The council called for stability in water policy, better management of the federal government's own licence holdings, now the largest in the country, and environmental water management that matches the efficiency gains the farming sector has already made.

Read the National Irrigators' Council release

7. Murrumbidgee General Security Lifts to 34 Per Cent

New South Wales lifted Murrumbidgee general security allocation by 7 percentage points to 34 per cent on 1 September, with high security at 95 per cent and both domestic and stock and town water at 100 per cent. The valley opened the water year on zero general security, so this is the third consecutive improvement and the first that gives growers a real planting decision to make. The next allocation statement is due at 2.30 pm on Tuesday 15 September, and statements continue fortnightly through the season. Victorian seasonal determinations are reviewed on the same fortnightly cycle. For irrigation businesses this is the point in the season where scheduling and system efficiency conversations are worth having with clients, because water that arrives late in a dry spring gets spent badly without them.

NSW water allocation statements

Victorian seasonal determinations

8. Check Your Entry in the Certification Directory

The Certification Directory is the list water users, councils and government agencies are sent to when they need a Certified Meter Installer and Validator, a Certified Irrigation Designer or a Certified Irrigation Installer. With the coastal metering deadline on 1 December it is being searched more than usual, and a wrong phone number or a lapsed listing costs the certificate holder work rather than costing us anything.

Look yourself up, check the business name, the contact details, the region and the certifications shown against your name, and tell us at info@irrigation.org.au if anything is out of date. If you hold a current certification and cannot find yourself at all, that is worth an email today.

Search the Certification Directory

Report a directory correction

9. Smart Water Connect: Sydney, Tuesday 13 October

Registration is still open for Smart Water Connect, The Water Conservancy's annual water efficiency forum, at the Aerial Function Centre at UTS in Ultimo on Tuesday 13 October, running from 8.30 am to 5 pm. The program covers customer behaviour change and water literacy, reducing water use in homes, businesses and communities, drought resilience and outdoor water management, and the uptake of water-efficient products, with a keynote from Russell Beatty of HARC and Guenter Hauber-Davidson of UtiliOS. Registration includes the evening Water Night launch hosted by Costa Georgiadis. The organisers have asked us directly for stronger representation from the irrigation sector, so members working in landscape, public open space and residential irrigation should look at the program.

Smart Water Connect program and registration

10. National Water Week, 19 to 25 October, and Water Night on 23 October

National Water Week runs from 19 to 25 October 2026 under the theme Water is Life, with Water Night falling on Thursday 23 October. It is the one week of the year when councils, water utilities and schools around the country are all talking about water at once, which makes it the easiest week for a member business to raise efficient irrigation with its own customers and be heard. If your business, council or regional committee is planning an activity, tell us and we will share it across our channels.

National Water Week

Water Night

11. The Summer Overflow Wants Your Project

We are looking for completed projects with a number attached: a scheme that solved a supply problem, a retrofit that cut consumption, a public open space that stayed green on less. A full case study runs 800 to 1,200 words and a shorter piece on one clear idea runs 450 to 500. This is editorial and it costs nothing, which makes it a different thing from the advertising further down.

Drafts are due Friday 6 November and final pieces, including images and written permissions, on Friday 20 November, for an edition of The Overflow, Irrigation Australia's Western Australian publication, that will be ready on Monday 7 December.

It does not have to arrive finished. Send us the project details, or talk it through with us on the phone, and we will draft it and send it back for your approval. Nothing is published without sign-off from the people in it. Email info@irrigation.org.au and we will send you the contributor pack.

Request the contributor pack

Find out more about The Overflow

Also This Fortnight

The National Water Reform final report is with government. The Productivity Commission delivered its 2026 report on 4 September and it has not been released. The government must table it within 25 sitting days. Entitlement reliability, water market integrity and metering standards were all in scope, so we will cover it once it lands. National Water Reform 2026

The Spring Irrigation Journal is in final layout. The edition is with the designer now and will reach inboxes and Publuu shortly. The Irrigation Journal

The National Irrigators' Council has opened new membership options. The council revised its membership structure on 11 August to take in different organisational forms and to give national representation to irrigators outside the Murray-Darling Basin. National Irrigators' Council membership

Your invoices are in the member portal. Irrigation Australia invoices can be viewed and paid any time under the My Purchases tab, without waiting for the office to open. Log in to the member portal

Upcoming Training Courses

Irrigation Australia is a Registered Training Organisation (RTO 91313) delivering nationally accredited irrigation qualifications, workshops and short courses. Our courses use a blended learning model, combining hands-on face-to-face training with interactive virtual classrooms.

Early 2027

Funding and discounts: Western Australian participants should check the WA Apprenticeship and the current Priority Industry Training funding subsidies, which substantially reduce the cost of the Certificate III in Irrigation Technology. Councils and contractors sending staff to the October Western Australian intake should ask the training team about eligibility before they enrol, not after. Group discounts are available for organisations enrolling multiple staff, so please contact the training team before booking a team in.

Self-paced online options also remain open, including the free Irrigation Insights induction course and the Introduction to Irrigation Part A and Part B courses. Company members can purchase a 12 month subscription giving all staff unlimited access to all three online courses.

View all upcoming training courses and dates

The Irrigation Australia Talent Hub: Employers Wanted!

Irrigation Australia has partnered with Goheadhunt to deliver the Irrigation Australia Talent Hub, a dedicated recruitment channel for our industry. If you are hiring, or expect to be hiring, this is the place to be visible.

Employers can create a free employer profile and get in front of a growing pool of industry talent, including graduates of our Certificate III and certification programs and people coming through the Irrigation Insights induction course.

Free employer profile, no cost to list your business
Access to a growing pool of irrigation-specific talent
Pay-for-Success model, so you only pay on a successful placement

The Talent Hub only works if employers are on it. We would encourage every member business with current or upcoming vacancies to register a profile.

Explore careers and the Talent Hub at irrigationcareers.org.au

Advertise in the Summer Edition of The Overflow

The Summer edition of The Overflow, Irrigation Australia's Western Australian publication, closes for advertising material on Friday 20 November and will be ready on 7 December. It reaches Waterwise Program participants, golf course superintendents, retailers, contractors and manufacturers across Western Australia, and every advertisement carries live links so readers go straight from the page to your website.

Your advertisement is promoted through:

Direct member emails to our membership base
The Irrigation Australia website
The e-News, reaching more than 6,900 subscribers
Irrigation Australia social media channels and our 8,800-plus LinkedIn following
QR codes displayed in irrigation retail stores across Western Australia
Publuu digital distribution of each publication

This is paid space and it is separate from the call for member projects earlier in this edition, which is editorial and free. Members receive preferential rates, and Irrigation Futures Sponsors have access to a discounted two-edition rate that pairs the Summer Overflow with the next Irrigation Journal. To book, or to request the media kit and current rate card, contact the team at info@irrigation.org.au.

Find out more about The Overflow

Find out more about The Irrigation Journal

Irrigation Australia Ltd | 1/35 Paringa Road, Murarrie QLD 4172 | 07 3517 4000 | info@irrigation.org.au

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