The NSW Select Committee on Floodplain Harvesting released its findings this week, and the realities are hard to ignore.
Floodplain harvesting causes significant economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts on downstream communities, like ours.
We are at the mercy of over-extraction and witness the devastation firsthand. The 2019 fish kill at Menindee was perhaps the most distressing example.
Irrigators in my electorate are doing the right thing, and it’s about time NSW did its share of the heavy-lifting. It’s a matter of basic justice.
The committee said that floodplain harvesting was legal, but enforcement and compliance in NSW needed major reform.
The committee listed 14 findings and made 25 key recommendations.
The NSW Government must adopt every one of them.
These recommendations are the result of 289 formal submissions to the inquiry.
They include submissions from myself, Shepparton MP Suzanna Sheed, the Victorian Government, Murray MP Helen Dalton, Wentworth Shire Council, Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations, and the South Western Water Users Association.
In my view, the most important recommendation was to increase the provision of river gauges, and enforce a “no meter, no pump” rule in NSW.
Widespread installation of new river gauges in the Northern Basin could provide real-time accurate information of water inflows and outflows.
And importantly for us, it allows the NSW Government to clearly identify downstream outcomes and environmental impacts.
By having the data, authorities can also more easily identify unlawful water take.
This recommendation complements other measures to boost the security of the river system.
These include an annual audit of the Sustainable Diversion Limit, the establishment of an independent oversight panel, and prioritising regular and genuine involvement of First Nations people in the management of floodplain harvesting.
For too long, NSW has been hitching a free ride on the back of the efforts and sacrifice of Victorian farmers. Let’s hope that finally they might start doing their fair share.
