PEOPLE power has forced the hand of the National Party to support a royal commission into water management and a national water register, according to Member for Murray Helen Dalton.
The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party MP said The Nationals voted against a royal commission motion in August last year, but backflipped this week after 11,000 people signed the petition urging the NSW Government to lobby the Federal Government for a national water register and royal commission.
Mrs Dalton said the challenge would now be to hold The Nationals to their word.
“Now is the time for Australia’s biggest state to take the lead — the people have demanded it,” Mrs Dalton told NSW Parliament on Thursday.
“The petition could not be timelier, given the events of water-related scandals we have seen over the past few weeks,” she said.
“Last Friday afternoon we saw the Water Minister (Melinda Pavey) lift an embargo on water pumping, in secret and despite not having any consultation with farmers and communities.
“We need to get to the bottom of these dodgy, secret decisions. We need a royal commission now.”
Mrs Dalton said residents at Pooncarie were tired of relying on the delivery of water after the lower Darling and Menindee Lakes were decommissioned “needlessly”.
“They are angry and desperate,” she said.
“As a result, drought conditions across the state have been made much worse than they needed to be, causing considerable hardship for people across western NSW.
“We all know that the drought in Australia has caused misery and hardship for many, but do members know that it has also been extremely profitable for a select few?
“The toxic level of secrecy surrounding water ownership across NSW is one of the major reasons why we find ourselves in the mess that we are in today regarding water.”
Mrs Dalton said it was a credit to the 11,000 people who signed the petition to have made things happen.
She said a royal commission into water management and implementation of a water register would send a message to the bush that there were moves away from darkness and secrecy towards progress and light.
Water to hit Menindee Lakes by mid-March, says Pavey
DARLING River flows from heavy rainfall this month across southern Queensland and northern New South Wales are expected to reach the Menindee Lakes system by mid-March, according to New South Wales Water Minister Melinda Pavey.
Responding to a question from Member for Murray Helen Dalton, Mrs Pavey told State Parliament this week 170,000 megalitres of water were expected to reach Lake Wetherell on March 13.
“That is good news and the communities of the north have participated in that with a floodplain embargo — the first ever in the history of NSW,” Mrs Pavey said.
“They have been denied the opportunity to pump that water because we needed a first flush down to the Menindee Lakes and to the Wentworth region,” she said.
However, Mrs Dalton said regional NSW wanted to lift the lid on water secrecy and expose secret water barons.
“They want to see a proper investigation, with those guilty of water corruption going to jail,” she said.
“The Nationals call themselves the only party for regional Australia. Why are they so resistant to what regional Australia wants and demands? What are they hiding?
“Do they support our farmers and regional communities or do they support the secret water barons?”
Mrs Pavey launched a scathing attack on Mrs Dalton after the Murray MP also questioned a decision to partially lift water restriction orders in parts of northern Murray-Darling Basin.
Mrs Dalton asked Mrs Pavey which northern and southern stakeholder groups were consulted and why the minister blamed government bureaucrats for the decision.
“Does the buck not stop with the minister when it comes to major water decisions?” Mrs Dalton said in State Parliament this week.
Mrs Pavey said in parliament it was important that one community was not attacked against another.
“The accusations and claims you are making against bureaucrats, against me and against communities is absolutely disgraceful,” Mrs Pavey told Mrs Dalton.
“The people of Murray, the people of Barwon, the people of western NSW are sick of politics and that type of behaviour around water,” she said.
Mrs Pavey said Mrs Dalton’s question and allegation levelled at communities, public servants and herself were “vicious” and described the Murray MP’s behaviour on social media “appalling”.
“All we have heard out of this woman is mistruths, lies and accusations. You wait till you get caught out,” Mrs Pavey said.
