“RAIN will not end drought conditions across southern NSW if the NSW Government allow special interests to secretly siphon off water before it reaches the river,” Member for Murray Helen Dalton says.
Mrs Dalton’s comments on Monday followed the leaking of emails that revealed NSW Government tried to justify its decision to lift an embargo on floodplain harvesting in the northern basin, after giving the green light for irrigators to divert the rainwater.
The emails, obtained by The Guardian Australia, showed the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment asked irrigator groups for “urgent” advice on and examples of the sort of damage their members might incur to levees, pumps and regulators if floodwater was allowed to flow across their land and then down the Barwon River to the lower Darling.
But according to The Guardian, by the time the emails had been sent, the NSW Government had already given large cotton-growing areas a three-day exemption from the embargo.
Mrs Dalton, a Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP, said government ministers continued to say “only rain would fix our problem”.
But she said with the rain received this month, farmers had seen a secret regulation change that allowed floodwater to be diverted for private use.
“If this continues to happen, downstream towns with no drinking water won’t get a drop, even if we have a wet 2020,” Mrs Dalton said.
Mrs Dalton criticised Water Minister Melinda Pavey’s recent decision to allow a select few irrigators in north-west NSW to harvest water for their on-farm storages, preventing the water reaching the Darling River.
“It would appear the dodgy dealings exposed on Four Corners two-and-a-half years ago are continuing,” Mrs Dalton said.
“The Independent Commission Against Corruption supposedly started investigating this in July 2017.
“But we’ve heard nothing since, not even an update confirming the inquiry is actually happening.
“If we’re not serious about stamping out malpractice, of course it’s going to continue.
“I’m an irrigator myself and I’ve always defended the right of irrigators to access water, but there needs to be proper rules, monitoring and transparency.
“We must prioritise critical life needs of downstream communities.”
Mrs Dalton said the regulation change was made in secret, with no consultation and no details released to the public.
She said people needed to know how much water had been diverted from the river, which irrigators had benefited and whether those who got the water had donated money to the National Party.
“The NSW Government behaves like it has something to hide,” Mrs Dalton said.
“They have refused to support the water inquiry of Mick Keelty, who the Federal Government appointed to investigate state water sharing arrangements.
“That means Mr Keelty can’t access NSW Government documents.
“They’ve also had nine years to license floodplain harvesting, but still haven’t got around to it.”
Mrs Dalton said there needed to be a royal commission into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan immediately.
On February 27, NSW Parliament will debate whether to lobby the Commonwealth Government for a federal royal commission.
A petition by rural community advocacy group Speak Up garnered more than 10,000 signatures, which means parliament must debate it.
The petition also calls for a national water register — an online database the allows the public to search for the names of companies and individuals who own water.
Mrs Dalton will introduce the petition and lead the debate.
“Labor have said they’ll support the petition motion,” she said.
“But so far we’ve had silence from the Liberals and Nationals.
“It’ll be interesting to see what they do.”
Embargo lifted over flood fear, says NSW
A DEPARTMENT of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) spokesperson has justified the NSW Government’s decision to temporarily lift the floodplain harvesting embargo in the northern Murray-Darling Basin, saying there were concerns the restriction was exacerbating localised flash flooding.
The spokeswoman said NSW Government had been working with communities and landholders over the past seven years to regulate floodplain harvesting and, for the first time, was able to restrict floodplain harvesting during rain events in the northern basin.
“Work is continuing on fully implementing floodplain harvesting regulation and a licensing framework will be in place in the northern basin by July 1, 2021,” the spokeswoman said.
“Over the weekend of February 8-9, up 250mm of rain fell in some parts of the northern basin.
“During the rain event, a number of landholders and community members contacted the DPIE to request an immediate lift of the order, as there was concern the restriction was exacerbating localised flash flooding.
“The department decided to take a precautionary approach due to potential safety and infrastructure risks and temporarily lifted the embargo in a limited area.”
The spokesperson said the embargo was now back in place for all designated floodplains until Friday, February 28.
“There is some evidence that overall, the floodplain harvesting restrictions have worked with river flow forecasting showing increased flows in a number of areas,” the spokeswoman said.
“The department is continuing to monitor this event.”
