Full Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education, Issue ...

Implementation of Australian Water Laws127found in New South Wales. A study in Queenslandof stakeholders in small catchments found thatthere was little trust in the state government overnatural resources management (Rickson 2006).The CEO’s also reported low levels of trust inrelation to the relevant state government. Therewas also a massive variation between corporategovernance types, as well with statutory boards,and government-owned corporations were mosttrusting and local government least (Figure 6).In support of the above, the CEO’s also reportedthat they don’t generally feel nested in a mutuallysupportive policy environment, except in Victoria,and this related directly to the corporate governancetype of government-owned corporations (Figure 7).In relation to whether the CEOs feel that all sectorsof their community understand the viewpoints ofothers, the results suggest that they are neutral, sothey are not confident and this does not vary bystate or corporate governance type. Despite all theeffort to facilitate broad community involvement(Figure 2), the CEO’s see little change in themindset of the community (Figure 8).Summary and ConclusionsThere have been massive reforms of water laws,policies, and institutions over the last 12 yearsin Australia. Most reforms require partnershipsbetween Commonwealth and state agencies andalso partnerships between different sectors ofthe community to achieve EnvironmentallySustainable Development (ESD) implementation.This paper has shown that while there has beenconsiderable effort put in by the CEO’s, thepartnerships between sectors of the community,and between them and state governments, areimpaired by a lack of trust and a perception that thewater policies are not mutually supportive. Manyof them are also puzzled as to how to achieve ESDand, with acute differences between the states indefinitions, there is a limited scope to learn fromeach other. Finally, the CEO’s still think that sectorsof their community don’t understand each other.However, the water reform is relatively new andFigure 6. Qu. 91- There is a huge amount of trust between this organization and the state government.Source: 183 CEO Surveys CRC-IF 2006JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATIONUCOWR