Direct access to decision-makers was a key request by the community of the Lake Eyre Basin at a 1997 stakeholder meeting in Birdsville. The Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group, in its role as the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) to the Lake Eyre Basin Ministerial Forum, will provide not only that access, but also a channel to communicate the decisions and initiatives of the Ministerial Forum out into the community.

The CAC comprises the Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group, along with a representative from each of the Arid Areas Catchment Water Management Board (SA), Local Government Association of Western Queensland, and the tourism industry.

The additional three representatives on the CAC are a recognition by the Ministerial Forum of the importance of input from those three sectors to any policies or strategies for the management of water and related natural resources in the Georgina/Diamantina and Cooper's Creek catchments of the Lake Eyre Basin.

The Arid Areas Catchment Water Management Board of South Australia has a statutory responsibility to ensure all catchments continue to meet long term requirements. The Ministerial Forum saw a need for the Arid Areas Catchment Water Management Board to be involved in formulating policy on water issues.

In Queensland, the prime method of service delivery to the communities of the Basin is Local Government and many of the member councils of the Western Queensland Local Government Association (WQLGA) fall either wholly or partly within the Basin. They are also seen as essential participants in the CAC.

Tourism is a major growth industry in the Basin and with more and more people enjoying the unique landscapes and heritage of the inland river catchments, it is timely that a representative of that industry have the opportunity to plan for the future.

The Community advisory Committee is a unique opportunity to be proactive, to plan in advance so the water-related problems that have developed in other parts of Australia are never allowed to happen in the sensitive inland catchments.