Roles of the different governance groups
Partnership
One of the key objectives of any partnership model is to ensure commitment and participation from all members of the Healthy Rivers to Reef Partnership. Commitment to the Partnership is through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by all partners. It is expected that the Partnership will meet three times a year and provide updates to all partners on progress.
Management Committee
The Mackay-Whitsunday-Isaac Healthy Rivers to Reef Management Committee is an Executive Committee of the Partnership and provides guidance on operational matters. The Committee meets up to six times per year and oversees management of the report card program design, budget and communication plans. The Committee consists of three industry representatives, two community representatives, and one government representative, as well as the Partnership Chair and Deputy Chair. The recommended structure and membership of the Committee seeks to ensure adequate and balanced representation across the partners.
Technical Working Group
The collaborative regional report card Technical Working Group (TWG) was established to identify and coordinate available monitoring data and modelling information, identify critical gaps and develop the report card methodology and design across the Mackay-Whitsunday-Isaac, Townsville Dry Tropics and Wet Tropics Partnerships. The TWG is supported by the Healthy Rivers to Reef Partnership Technical Officer. Terms of Reference for the TWG can be found here.
Membership of the TWG is skills-based and includes experts and data custodians across different organisations. Technical Officers from all Partnerships work closely with experts from these organisations to identify datasets, and develop an agreed methodology for report card grades and report card design.
Independent Science Panel
To ensure the report card is based on the best available independent science, the Reef 2050 Plan Independent Science Panel (ISP) provides advice to the Partnership, and reviews and endorses the methodologies, systems and processes used to develop the report card.
The ISP has agreed to this expanded role and will also provide advice on how best to nest regional report cards within the wider context of Great Barrier Reef report cards.
Regional Natural Resource Management (NRM) Bodies
The role of the Regional NRM bodies within the Partnership is to provide technical and communication support to develop the Mackay-Whitsunday-Isaac Report Card. The two regional NRM bodies for the Partnership are Reef Catchments and NQ Dry Tropics.
The Healthy Rivers to Reef Partnership Technical Officers work with the existing NRM regional working groups who provide a strong knowledge base for the region. The Partnership’s Technical Officers liaise with the officers supporting these working groups or participate in the working groups when possible.
Knowledge and information obtained through these regional working groups will be made available via the Partnership’s Technical Officers to the TWG and ISP when required.
