Issues of spatial and temporal scale are important facets of effective adaptive management of water, wetlands and associated biota. Recent advances in technology such as movement tracking devices for freshwater fauna are allowing ecologists and managers to gain new insights into links between spatial scales of response and monitoring, as well as variability across temporal scales, and how these might affect outcomes and our understanding of these systems. Here, we discuss outcomes to-date of Australia's largest waterbird movement and habitat use satellite-tracking research program, the information from which is informing environmental water, wetland and waterbird management and policy from local to regional, basin and continental scales.