Our former chair to head Murray-Darling Basin Authority

January 22, 2015

Crawford Fund Annual Conference Dinner at Parliament House .Congratulations to The Hon Neil Andrew AO FTSE, former chair of the Fund, who has been appointed the new chair of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA).

In a joint media release by The Hon Greg Hunt, Minister for the Environment and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment, Minister Hunt said “I am delighted that Mr Andrew, who has a long association with the Murray Darling Basin issues, has agreed to serve as the new Chair.”

“Mr Andrew has considerable expertise in both public sector governance and irrigated agriculture, and he will make a valuable contribution as Chair of the Authority. “He is highly capable and I have every confidence he will do an outstanding job of leading the Authority in working with Basin communities, businesses and governments in implementing the Basin Plan.”

In media reports on the appointment, it was noted that Mr Andrew was the chair of the Fund’s recent “Doing Well by Doing Good” task force.

The Fund’s Chief Executive, Dr Denis Blight, said “Neil has had a long and distinguished career as a Parliamentarian and of course as Speaker of the House of Representatives. At the Fund he was pivotal in sustaining bipartisan support for investment in international agricultural research which in turn is crucial to the profitability of agriculture in Australia as well as in the developing world. We wish him similar success in his new role.”

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