Welcome Associate Commissioner Chris Guest
7 June 2023
We are pleased to announce that Chris Guest has joined the Productivity Commission as an Associate Commissioner with the Murray Darling Basin Plan: Implementation Review.
Chris will be working closely with the team as they continue to gather views and evidence to inform their findings and recommendations.
He will also be visiting Basin communities in June and July, alongside Commissioner Joanne Chong, to host a series of public forums where members of the community can share their views on the implementation of the Basin Plan over the past five years and how it might be improved.
Chris brings more than 20 years of experience as an economist working in water reform to the inquiry.
He represented New South Wales in the negotiation of the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality and the National Water Initiative. With the Australian Government, he was part of the team that developed and negotiated the Water Act, the referral by the states to the Commonwealth of certain powers in relation to Basin water management, the Basin Plan and the Basin Plan Implementation Agreement.
More recently, Chris co-authored the Murray-Darling Basin Water Compliance Review, which investigated and recommended measures to address water theft, and has undertaken projects in relation to water market reforms and jurisdictional compliance arrangements. He has also written a book on the history of Basin politics, titled Sharing the water: one hundred years of River Murray politics.
Chris is an invaluable addition to the Productivity Commission, and the Murray Darling Basin Plan Implementation Review team are excited to continue their important work under his guidance.