Richard Anderson has been a customer representative for just shy of 43 years and is the current chair of the Rochester-Campaspe Water Service Committee.
Photo by
Geoff Adams
Over the past year, Goulburn-Murray Water has been in discussion with its water service committees about how to engage with more customers and what kind of customer committees would work best for the future.
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As a result, in 2025 G-MW will replace the 12 existing water service committees with seven new customer committees aligned to services.
G-MW says these committees will be a new approach, designed to be collaborative, strategic, and with a manageable time commitment for members.
Today, a few of the water services committee members reflect on their time in the job.
In 1968, Timmering farmer Murray McDonald attended the Tongala Advisory Board’s annual meeting.
“Back then, they used to be held in Girgarre Hall in the middle of winter when it was about the coldest hall you could ever find,” Murray said.
“Our supply was the old Trust channel. There’d been quite a lot of work undertaken on the new channel, but not a lot on the bottom end of the system.
“A couple of us went along to the meeting and it was suggested to me that I stand to join the board.”
Murray did so, not knowing at the time that he was starting a 56-year journey as a customer representative.
“After several years our advisory board merged with Tatura and I was lucky enough to be elected for it, and then eventually Goulburn-Murray Water was formed along with the water service committees as we know them,” he said.
Murray is the longest serving member still on a G-MW water service committee, but not the only one whose service as a customer representative predates the water corporation itself, which was established in 1994.
Murray McDonald is the longest serving water service committee member with 57 years of service under his belt.
John Horder has served on the Shepparton Water Service Committee since 1993.
During his time on the committee, he has not only seen considerable change but also helped lead change, with the Greater Shepparton region being one of the first in the state to experience automation.
“Not a lot was known about modernisation at the time, so it was an important journey for the committee,” John said.
“After we had been through the process, we were able to give advice on what worked and what could be done differently.
“That was very rewarding to play a role in that process.”
Much of G-MW’s delivery network is now automated.
Murray said the changes to northern Victoria’s delivery network that the water service committees had helped oversee had transformed irrigation in the region.
“The current system is fantastic,” he said.
“When I started irrigating, we had a wooden door that used to leak, and the channels were always wet and full of weeds.
“You used to have to irrigate it all yourself and nowadays you just ring up or do it on the computer and everything’s automated.”
Richard Anderson is another who has witnessed these changes to the delivery network, both as a farmer and a committee member.
He has been a customer representative for just shy of 43 years and is the current chair of the Rochester-Campaspe Water Service Committee.
Richard said while the role had evolved over the years, the core purpose of customer representatives remained the same.
“I joined because I was interested in the direction being taken and making sure us farmers had a say in it,” he said.
“In the early years, we had district pricing, so we had to consider what works we needed to do in our district and how this would impact the pricing.
“We’d have a couple of customer meetings each year to let people know what work had been done and what needed doing in the year ahead.
“The role has changed a lot since then but having that link between G-MW and the customers is still very important.”
John said being a customer representative was a worthwhile commitment.
“You learn a lot about different people and different industries,” he said.
“I’m always grateful people make time to be on the committee because it does make a difference.”
Expressions of interest for the new customer committees will open on January 27.
