As water law continues to evolve in response to environmental challenges, policy reform and heightened regulatory scrutiny, secure expert guidance on key legal and strategic issues shaping Australia’s water governance framework. Explore the implications of recent amendments to the Water Management Act 2000, including new civil penalties and the expansion of Crown liability exclusions plus consider national and regional policy directions. You will gain insights into the lessons of the past decade in water reform, the intersection of Indigenous rights and governance, and the design of the Basin Plan Review. The afternoon sessions will focus on compliance and enforcement trends, offering practical perspectives on prosecutions, contamination, and regulatory risk management.

Presenters

Luke Salem, Senior Associate, King & Wood Mallesons
Luke Salem is Senior Associate in the Sydney Environment, Planning & Native Title Team. He assists clients to navigate all areas of environment and planning law including licences and approvals, pollution, contamination, waste, water, coastal management, biodiversity, heritage, compulsory acquisition, regulatory investigations and incidents. Luke advises on complex deals and projects. He prepares and negotiates bespoke agreements and acts in NSW Land and Environment Court and Local Court proceedings. His advisory, transactional and litigious work regularly involves major renewables projects, transformative infrastructure, and high stakes compliance issues. Luke has more than 10 years’ experience gained in private practice and in-house at the NSW Environment Protection Authority. Relying on his specialist legal expertise and knowledge of government processes, Luke delivers timely and robust solutions for clients engaging with environmental and planning regulation.

Grace Mang, General Manager, Murray-Darling Basin Authority
Grace Mang is a water lawyer and worked in river basin management for more than two decades. She has worked with non-for profits and governments to promote stronger relationships and multi-sector dialogues to support the sustainable management of rivers around the world, and the livelihoods that these rivers support. Grace has worked as a policy adviser on water and environment at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, as International Rivers’ Director of Programs and oversaw its China Program from Beijing – China where she developed leading environmental and social policies with the world’s largest dam builders, and is currently a General Manager at the Murray-Darling Basin Authority where she leads the preparations for the 2026 Basin Plan Review. She has an economics and law degree from the University of Sydney and is admitted as a lawyer to the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

Dr Emma Carmody, Co-Founder & Director of Legal and Partnerships, Restore Blue
Dr Emma Carmody is the Managing Lawyer of the Freshwater Team at the Environmental Defenders Office and Legal Advisor to the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in Switzerland. Emma has over 15 years' experience in Australia and abroad advising a diverse range of clients including international organisations, governments, NGOs, Traditional Owners, farmers, conservation groups and scientists on all aspects of water law and policy. In 2018, she was awarded the Dunphy Award for "most outstanding environmental effort of an individual" at the NSW Environment Awards in recognition of her work as a water lawyer, which has driven considerable law reform across the Murray-Darling Basin. She is listed in Best Lawyers in Australia in the Water Law and Planning and Environment Law categories, respectively and is a member of the Strategic Advisory Council for the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation, an alliance of international organisations, international and local NGOs, government ministries and others working to improve integration of water into international climate negotiations and domestic laws and policies.

Michael Causer, Partner, King & Wood Mallesons
Michael Causer is a partner in the Sydney Environment & Planning and Native Title Team at King & Wood Mallesons. He primarily advises on environmental, planning, water and land access issues and regularly represents private and government clients in the NSW Land and Environment Court. His clients are primarily focused upon real estate, infrastructure, energy and resources projects. 

Ballanda Sack, Special Counsel, Beatty Hughes & Associates
Ballanda has over 20 years’ experience advising on the full spectrum of environment, planning and valuation law. She has advised federal, state and local government bodies as well major corporates in a range of sectors. She has particular expertise in the assessment of major projects, climate change, coastal risk and heritage matters. Ballanda was a Senior Associate at Clayton Utz before joining the firm in 2013.

Dr Madeleine Hartley, Chief Executive Officer, NSW Irrigators’ Council
Dr Madeleine Hartley has a PhD in international water law from The University of Western Australia, was a visiting scholar in Colorado, has lectured in water law and international environmental law, and is a Fellow of the Peter Cullen Water and Environment Trust. Madeleine has worked in private practice, in-house legal, and now in regulatory strategy, and has experience in litigation and advice on all areas of water law and regulation across Australia. This has included major water litigation in Western Australia, reducing water law barriers to developing northern Australia, water reform in Western Australia and New South Wales, and matters involving water rights, use and policy in the Murray-Darling Basin. In 2019 Madeleine was the Lawyers Weekly Corporate Counsel Government Lawyer of the Year, and received the Corporate Counsel Excellence Award

Bobbie Pannowitz, Solicitor, Cater & Blumer

Mike Young, Professor Emeritus, School of Economics and Public Policy, University of Adelaide
Mike Young is Professor Emeritus in Water and Environmental Policy at the University of Adelaide, was the Founding Executive Director of its Environment Institute, is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and is a Distinguished Fellow of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society. Mike is a specialist in water policy reform and his research led to the unbundling of Australia’s water licences and the resultant development of an efficient trading system and the Australian Government decision to transfer responsibility for the administration of the Murray Darling Basin’s water resources to an independent expertise-based authority. He played a key role in establishing Australia’s National Land and Water Resources Audit. Mike has held the Gough Whitlam and Malcom Fraser Chair at Harvard University, has served on Global Water Partnership's Technical Committee and the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Water Security. He was a founding member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. In 2006, Mike was awarded Australia’s premier water research prize – the Land and Water Australia Eureka Award for Water Research. He has played a critical role in the consideration of options for the Murray Darling Basin. Prior to joining the University of Adelaide, Mike spent 30 years with CSIRO where, amongst other things, he established their Policy and Economic Research Unit. In 2003, Mike was awarded a Centenary Medal “for outstanding service through environmental economics”. His full curriculum vitae lists over 240 publications.

Dr Erin O'Donnell, Senior Lecturer, Melbourne Law School
Dr Erin O’Donnell is a Senior Lecturer and ARC Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne Law School. Erin is a water law and policy expert, and she is recognized internationally for her research into the ground-breaking new field of legal rights for rivers. Her work explores the challenges and opportunities these new rights create for protecting the multiple social, cultural and natural values of rivers. Her work is informed by comparative analysis across Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, the USA, Bangladesh, India, Colombia, and Chile. She has also worked for the World Bank, examining water markets and their role in water security and sustainable development. Since 2018, Erin has been a member of the Birrarung Council, the voice of the Birrarung/Yarra River in Melbourne. Erin works in partnership with Traditional Owners across Australia on a range of projects, including leading the Cultural Water for Cultural Economies project. In 2023, Erin commenced an ARC-funded research fellowship to explore the opportunity of treaty to address aqua nullius, increase Traditional Owner power and resources in water, and create more sustainable and legitimate settler state water laws. Erin’s latest book, Legal Rights for Rivers: Competition, Collaboration, and Water Governance, is available now from Routledge.

Andrew Beatty, Director, Beatty Hughes & Associates
Admitted in 1985, Andrew specialises in planning, environmental, valuation and heritage law. Before establishing Beatty Hughes & Associates in 2012, Andrew had been a senior partner of three large law firms: Allen Allen & Hemsley (Sydney) 1993 – 1999; Mallesons Stephen Jacques (Melbourne & Sydney) 1999 – 2006; and Baker & McKenzie (Sydney) 2006 – 2012. Andrew is admitted in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Ellen Chapple, Director Legal NRAR, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Ellen is NRAR’s Director of Legal. She manages prosecutions brought by NRAR and other legal actions to enforce the Water Management Act. Ellen's team helps with law reform and provides legal advice and support to the organisation. Ellen has over 10 years of experience in public law and regulation. She has a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School and was previously the Manager Litigation with the NSW Environment Protection Authority.