Yvette Colton

Yvette is an experienced policy and regulatory reform specialist with over fourteen years in water and natural resources management. Skilled in policy development, legislative frameworks, and regulatory analysis, she consistently delivers high-quality, actionable outcomes. Yvette has a strong track record in drafting and refining policy documents through inclusive stakeholder and client engagement.

Yvette recently led a multi-stage review of trading rules and Schedule D of the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement for the MDBA involving detailed issue and solution analyses and documenting recommendations to refine regulatory design. She has worked with the MDBA in positioning for the Basin Plan review, conducting issue scoping and evaluation, and DCCEEW on assessing governance issues and options for a potential National Water Commission.  Her recent work also includes policy guidance on native vegetation and landscape legislation for SA DEW and NSW NRAR on water compliance. Internationally, Yvette provided Australian insights to inform Vietnam’s Law on Water Resources, delivering a study visit, stakeholder workshops, capacity building and technical advice on effective water management and governance strategies.

Before joining Ricardo, Yvette delivered various regulatory reform, policy and business improvement outcomes in policy roles in the South Australian Department for Environment and Water. Key achievements included delivering significant reforms to South Australia’s Water Register to provide for registration of interests and enhanced transactional services, and substantial changes to the manner in which boards operate, plan and are funded through the South Australian Government’s Landscape SA reforms.

Her exemplary work on the Schedule D review received high praise from the MDBA in 2024:

"Between 2022 and 2024, Aither led a two-stage review process for Schedule D of the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement. This included a thorough analysis of issues and options, documentation of consultation outcomes, and development of solutions. Aither’s engagement approach fostered mutual understanding and agreement among stakeholders on a wide array of complex issues. The MDBA highly values Yvette’s and the team’s deep knowledge of water markets and has strong confidence in Aither’s capabilities in this field. We recommend their services and experienced consultants."