Wilcannia Weir Replacement

Description

Water Infrastructure NSW is designing and constructing a new weir for Wilcannia which will provide long-term town water supplies to preserve and enhance the social, economic and environmental benefits for Wilcannia, its people and its surrounds.  The project transferred from WaterNSW to Water Infrastructure NSW in July 2021 along with Comacon’s contract. We are continuing to support Water Infrastructure NSW in delivering this project.

Approach

This project started and stalled several times over the years, so Comacon worked closely with WaterNSW to ensure the design of the new weir will meet community needs and expectations.

Wilcannia has a large Aboriginal community, within the traditional tribal home of the Barkandji people who sustain a continuing spiritual relationship to the river. Our approach has been to ask the community and elders how they would like us to engage with them and invite them to design a consultation program with us that is unique, inclusive, respectful and targeted for the specific cultural practices of the Barkandji nation.

Throughout the project, Comacon has assisted with community and stakeholder engagement services, and education and training to support the regional community. We have organised community drop-in sessions to share information and get feedback at key milestones and continue to work with the Water Infrastructure NSW team to update the community regularly through a range of channels and capture engagement outcomes.

Fundamental to the success of the project, has been an acknowledgment that standard engagement approaches and techniques may not be culturally appropriate. This project has shown that you can achieve genuine outcomes when communities are at the centre, identifying the benefits, implementing, and reviewing them.  Underpinning the engagement activities is a strong commitment to build lasting relationships with the Wilcannia community. The hope is that this connection continues beyond the completion of the weir and is the model for government infrastructure projects moving forward that are based on trust and cultural respect.  

The Wilcannia community is proactively engaged and participating in initiatives as Water Infrastructure NSW prepares for the environmental approval and construction phase. Feedback from the community has been very positive and the project team is setting new benchmarks for the business and for the sector at large. The project team is developing an Aboriginal Participation plan for the construction phase of the project, with feedback from key Aboriginal stakeholders. The plan will include Barkandji cultural protocols for the peak groups supporting its delivery to endorse. Tenderers must show how they will meet the requirements of this plan.

Contacts

Shannon O’Connell, Senior Communication and Engagement Consultant

Coral Reynolds, Executive General Manager and Principal Consultant

‍

Image by Credit