Andrew McConville commenced as Chief Executive of the MDBA in June 2022. As Chief Executive he is the Accountable Authority for the management and operations of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority. The MDBA is responsible for the implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and the execution of the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement. These agreements support the sustainable management of the Murray–Darling Basin which is the largest and most complex river system in Australia. It covers 1 million square kilometers of south-eastern Australia, across New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory. The Basin Plan sets the amount of water that can be taken from the Basin each year, while leaving enough for our rivers, lakes and wetlands and the plants and animals that depend on them. The Agreement supports the MDBA’s operation of the River Murray system to the border of South Australia. The River Murray system includes the waterways, storages, weirs and locks of the River Murray in the southern Basin.
Before joining the MDBA Andrew was the Chief Executive of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, and before this worked for more than a decade with Syngenta, one of the world’s leading agribusinesses where he held several senior roles, including the Global Head of External Affairs and Communication based in Basel, Switzerland. Andrew holds a first-class honors degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of New England and a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics from the University of Oxford.