The Water Law Symposium 2025 with its uniquely multi-disciplinary approach offers a premier platform for professionals in water regulation and policy, enriching your understanding of water management issues. Gain a deep dive into the current regulatory frameworks and anticipated policy shifts in Water regulation in the Murray Darling Basin. Navigate river restoration reforms and the evolving Murray-Darling Basin water markets. Gain valuable insights water law and compliance throughout the Basin and water industry competition. Review the indigenous water rights and water policy and regulation.

Presenters

Kathryn Ridge, Solicitor Director, Ridge & Associates Pty Ltd
Kathryn Ridge is the Solicitor Director of Ridge & Associates Pty Ltd. The firm has a range of private sector clients, and government clients specialising in human rights, land rights, native title and environmental law. Kathryn has also developed a public interest law practice working with indigenous people protecting cultural heritage and their environment. Kathryn has over 20 years’ experience in environmental law reform and implementation, particularly in pollution, water, native vegetation and climate change areas. Kathryn is the author of the Water Law Chapter for Environmental Law Handbook. Kathryn is the co-author of the Biodiversity and Conservation Chapter for Lexis Nexis. Kathryn has strong strategic skills and advocacy skills with a proven capacity to deliver complex reforms. Having operated at a Board level for over 15 years, Kathryn has a strong background in Audit and Compliance, including having implemented compliance programs in two public sector Boards, including the establishment Board of State Water Corporation. Kathryn has served on government and non-government boards.

Nick Thomas, Partner, Clayton Utz
Nick is a leading expert in environment, planning, ESG, climate change, sustainability, water, property, regulated industries and government law, with a focus on infrastructure, land development, and energy and resources. With more than 25 years’ experience collaborating with Commonwealth, State and local government as well as major corporations in a diverse range of industries, he has advised key players in many of Australia’s most significant projects, transactions and environmental disputes. One of Nick’s strengths is guiding projects through their entire lifecycle, from conception to operation. He advises at executive, board, and ministerial levels, and is known for delivering pragmatic solutions. Nick has also been appointed a Fellow of the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand and was recently named Australia’s best water lawyer by Best Lawyers (in association with the Australian Financial Review).

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.

Mike Young, Professor Emeritus, Water and Environmental 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.

Claire Miller, CEO, NSW Irrigator’s Council
Claire Miller is the CEO of the NSW Irrigators’ Council, representing water users across the State since 1983. Claire has a professional background in journalism, working for The Age newspaper in Melbourne for more than 20 years covering the environment, politics and general news. She switched careers, becoming the senior ministerial water policy adviser to Victoria’s Water Minister from 2007 to 2010 during the worst of the Millenium drought and the emergence of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. She has since worked in various roles for irrigated agricultural industries and communities. Claire has a Masters Degree in Environmental Studies, and is a director on the East Gippsland Catchment Management Authority board. Claire is also a regular volunteer in wildlife conservation in South Africa

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.

Emily Livingston, Senior Associate, Thomson Geer
Emily Livingston is a Senior Associate at Thomson Geer, where she specialises in Environmental, Planning, and Climate Change law. With extensive expertise in advising clients across a wide variety of industries, Emily navigates the complexities of environmental and planning regulatory framework related to commercial and property transactions, disputes, and projects. Emily has a particular focus on water resource management, trading, licensing, site contamination and rehabilitation, and compliance with the State and Commonwealth regulatory standards. Emily’s work extends to advising national companies on corporation and director liability concerning environmental offences, as well as providing strategic guidance on regulatory frameworks at the Commonwealth, State, and Territory levels. Emily’s comprehensive knowledge of environmental and natural resources management laws makes her a trusted advisor to businesses navigating an increasingly complex legal landscape. In addition to her role at Thomson Geer, Emily is an Elected Member of the Alexandrina Council, where she applies her legal expertise to local governance and community issues. Emily is also a local government member of the Murray-Darling Association.

Amy Dula, Director of Programs, Natural Resources Commission
Amy Dula has worked in the field of environmental and natural resources management for over 25 years. She has been a Director, Programs at the NSW Natural Resources Commission since 2016. She recently served as the Chair of the Connectivity Expert Panel, which provided advice to the NSW Minister for Water on how to improve connectivity between the northern and southern portions of the Murray Darling Basin. She currently leads the Commission’s review of water sharing plans under Section 43A of the Water Management Act 2000. She has led the review of over 20 water sharing plans, including review of the Barwon-Darling Water Sharing Plan, and served on the Minister’s Panel for overseeing audits of water sharing plans in 2018/19. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemical Engineering with a focus on environmental engineering from Brown University, and a Masters Degree in Environmental Management from the University of New South Wales.

Vanessa O’Keefe, Associate Director, EMM Consulting
Vanessa has been intimately involved in water resource management for over 30 years, both as a consultant and as a senior public servant in the NSW government. Prior to working at EMM, she was the Executive Director of Policy and Planning at NSW DPIE-Water, having re-joined the public sector in 2018 after 14 years as a consultant. In this role Vanessa drove the development, implementation and review of water resource management regulatory frameworks, policies and plans based on best practice science, analytics and modelling across the state. As a consultant she has provided results focused advice to Governments in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region on regulatory, governance, policy, and planning frameworks, and management and implementation mechanisms for water, environmental and disaster risk management. She also advises the private sector on the water resource management and regulatory aspects of both large and smaller developments, bringing a systems thinking lens to resolution of complex issues. Vanessa’s strategic and innovative approaches to water resource management and the associated regulatory issues focuses on finding efficient and effective pathways to project success and achieving integrated and sustainable business outcomes.

Jo Ong, Associate Director, EMM Consulting
Jo is a regulatory and strategic advisor with over 14 years’ legal, policy & project experience across the public & private sectors. Prior to working at EMM, Jo spent 10 years leading the implementation and reform of natural resource regulatory frameworks across water, mining, Crown land and energy for NSW and Commonwealth governments in senior executive legal and policy roles. As an environment & planning lawyer at Clayton Utz, she provided regulatory advice across a broad range of environmental, climate & energy frameworks. She has a depth of experience navigating and creating regulatory pathways, managing complex stakeholder environments, driving strategic negotiations and collaborating across governments.

Cynthia Tupicoff, Director, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Cynthia Tupicoff is a Director in the Water Markets and Regulatory Policy Branch at the Department of Climate Change, Energy the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). Cynthia led the Conduct, Integrity, and Data Reform team on the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Act 2023 to support the new transparency and integrity framework for Basin water markets. Prior to working at DCCEEW, Cynthia worked at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in a range of roles including on the ACCC Murray-Darling Basin Water Markets Inquiry 2019 – 2021.

Emma Solomon Branch Head, Commonwealth, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Emma Solomon is the Branch Head of Water Markets and Regulatory Policy in the Water Policy Division at the Department of Climate Change, Energy the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). Emma was the department lead on the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Act 2023 to support delivery of the Basin Plan and establish a new integrity framework for Basin water markets. Prior to working in the Commonwealth, Emma worked in senior water and natural resource management policy reform and legal roles for the NSW Government.

Rebecca Halliday, Principal, GIRA Advisory
Rebecca is the co-founder and Principal of GIRA, a First Nations-led strategic agency specialising in large-scale infrastructure, construction, and renewable energy projects. She is a proud Aboriginal woman and ADF veteran, bringing over two decades of experience in senior leadership roles across the public, private, tertiary, and community-controlled sectors. Throughout her career, she has been a tireless advocate for equitable access for minority groups, while working to improve the fairness of complex policy and regulatory systems, particularly in safeguarding First Nations culture and heritage. Rebecca’s deep lived experience, combined with her professional expertise, led to her becoming an inaugural Power Maker with the First Nations Clean Energy Network in 2023. In 2024, she was appointed to the Indigenous Advisory Committee, where she serves as a trusted adviser to the Minister for Environment and Water on Matters of National Environmental Significance. She has also recently represented the Government to lead nation-wide community engagement initiatives for large-scale Hydrogen initiatives, and as a member of the Construction Expert Working Group and the United Nations Indigenous Languages Committee. Rebecca is an alumnus of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Chief Executive Womens Leadership, holds several board and advisory positions, was a finalist in the Women in Digital Awards – Indigenous Leader of the Year, was honoured with an Australian Defence Commendation, as well as the Exceptional Service Award and Excellence in Innovation Award within the Commonwealth Public Service.