DEPARTMENT of Agriculture and Water Resources Deputy Secretary Phillip Glyde has been confirmed as the new CEO of the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA).
As revealed by Fairfax Agricultural Media earlier this month, Mr Glyde’s elevation to head the MDBA was approved by Federal Cabinet and needed formal ratification of the government’s Federal Executive Council to gain formal finalisation.
Federal Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Barnaby Joyce today welcomed Mr Glyde’s appointment as a positive move for the MDBA given his previous experiences at the Department.
Mr Joyce said Mr Glyde had been a Deputy Secretary with his department since 2006 and was acting as Secretary on many occasions and brings a high level of expertise and experience to the MDBA role.
“Mr Glyde has a proven track record in financial management and public sector governance as well as experience leading professional teams and setting strategic vision,” he said.
“He also brings a record of achievement particularly relevant to the MDBA, through his extensive experience as a senior public servant in natural resource management and economics and involvement in complex state and Commonwealth issues.
“In the almost 10 years he has spent with the Department he has led important policy reforms in the areas of live animal exports, drought management and agricultural policy.
“Mr Glyde has also headed the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences and working overseas at the UK Government Cabinet Office and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris.
“I know many of Mr Glyde’s colleagues will be sad to see him leave the department but I look forward to continuing to work with him in the broader portfolio as head of the MDBA.”
Mr Joyce said the new MDBA CEO would take up his appointment in the new year.
Mr Glyde will replace Rhondda Dickson who started at the MDBA in mid-2011 after shifting from her role as the then Department of Agriculture’s Deputy Secretary.
Dr Dickson announced her departure from the MDBA in July this year, to take on a Deputy Secretary’s role at the Environment Department, with her four-year MDBA term ending in September.
She replaced Rob Freeman as MDBA CEO who departed several months after the abrupt and controversial departure of the Authority’s Chair Mike Taylor at the height of public uproar and anger over the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
Mr Joyce thanked Dr Dickson for taking the MDBA through a period of significant reform, including the establishment of the Murray–Darling Basin Plan, which was signed into law in late 2012.
He said the MDBA was an Australian government agency which leads the planning and management of the Murray–Darling Basin water resources.
Mr Joyce said the Australian government was committed to delivering the Basin Plan in a way that maximises social and economic benefits while also delivering the necessary environmental outcomes.
“To guarantee the future of the Basin all three—industries, communities and the environment—must thrive,” he said.
The Basin Plan has a baseline target of 2750 gigalitres in Sustainable Diversion Limits and another 450GLs that was agreed to for South Australia which will be underpinned by a Constrains Management Strategy.
However, that Strategy remains a problematic work-in-progress for the MDBA and will be one of Mr Glyde’s key challenges, working with the government and stakeholders.
MDBA chair Neil Andrew also welcomed Mr Glyde’s appointment saying he came to the Agency with “a wealth of experience” and would be an “exceptional leader” for the organisation.
“Mr Glyde has been working in natural resource management for almost 30 years, spending the past nine years in executive roles with the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources,” Mr Andrew said.
“His experience as deputy secretary of the department also complements the MDBA’s recent move to the agriculture portfolio.
“Mr Glyde’s thorough understanding of Australia’s agricultural and environmental landscape will be pivotal to shaping the Authority’s work as we progress water reform to achieve a healthy working Basin.
"As we approach major milestones in the Basin Plan next year, with decisions including the northern basin review and the sustainable diversion limit adjustment process, the strength of Mr Glyde’s leadership will continue to reassure Basin communities of the MDBA’s commitment to open communication, transparency and scientific rigour.”
Big challenges ahead
National Irrigators' Council CEO Tom Chesson said Mr Glyde had the experience needed within the resources sector to bring a pragmatic approach to the MDBA’s work and “hit the ground running”.
“Mr Glyde faces a number of challenges, not least of all will be rebuilding what has become a fractured relationship between the MDBA and some Basin communities who are feeling the full effect of having their economic and social resilience removed by the Basin Plan’s implementation,” he said.
“It is important that as the plan is rolled out in full the MDBA ceases to be the day to day face of the Plan and the focus and available resources be redirected to those organisations such as the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and the State based water agencies who are actually tasked with delivering the environmental outcomes envisaged under the Basin Plan.
“It is no secret, especially to anyone who has been following the current Senate Inquiry into the Basin Plan that there is a great deal of anger being directed towards the way that the MDBA has engaged with communities and Mr Glyde will need to change the culture within the Authority if it is to re-engage in a meaningful way with communities who are feel they are not being listen to.”
Mr Chesson said there was “increasing disillusionment” that governments and the MDBA were not delivering the Basin Plan in a way which maximised environmental, social and economic outcomes.
“Mr Glyde will need to address this if he is to be successful in his new role,” he said.
