After five months, the NSW Government has released a response to the Senate Inquiry into floodplain harvesting, which was tabled last year. 

Within their response, the Government supported or partially supported 20 of the committee’s 25 recommendations, leaving some stakeholders concerned about what may be excluded. 

It is largely the reaction to recommendations around non-compliant or illegal structures (such as floodplain levee works) that worries Lou Norton of Healthy Rivers Dubbo. 

“It seems remarkable that the government has not yet removed illegal floodplain works in the Macquarie Wambuul Valley, especially as these works have been denying critical flood flows to the Ramsar listed Macquarie Marshes for decades now,” Ms Norton said. 

“Even more remarkable that the government would be considering granting valuable floodplain harvesting entitlements to so many of these works."

On the inquiry’s recommendation to remove the unlawful structures (Recommendation 13), the NSW Government only partially supported the change.

The NSW Government said that this issue was already being addressed through the Improving Floodplain Connections program, which brings ‘priority’ structures into compliance through removal, relocation or modification. 

Their response continued, ‘the removal or modification of unapproved flood works will remain the responsibility of the relevant landholder’.

Under the newly proposed model, however - which relies on licensing as a form of moderating use - the NSW Government supports the recommendation that no landholder with illegal works will be granted floodplain harvesting licences. 

According to Healthy Rivers Dubbo, the removal of illegal, unapproved floodplain works from the Macquarie Valley would reduce the amount of floodplain harvesting licences issued by about two thirds.

Those recommendations that weren’t supported included a clause to only issue licenses when each recommendation from the inquiry had been implemented, and to abolish the senate inquiry committee, instead forming an independent panel of experts for future use. 

According to the NSW Government, the unsupported recommendations were ‘redundant, outside of its authority, needing further community consultation or unable to be realised until licensing is introduced’.

The most recent attempt at reform was disallowed by the NSW Legislative Council in February 2022, delaying interest group’s eagerness to begin a consistent licensing and monitoring process.

NSW Irrigators’ Council CEO Claire Miller said that while the reform would have been ‘sombre’ for irrigators who would be forced to decrease the amount of water they could use, reform is the best decision for the environment. 

“It is unfathomable why anyone would want to further delay the regulation, licensing and metering of floodplain harvesting, and allow the current free-for-all to continue,” Ms Miller said. 

For many interest groups (particularly environmentalists), however, the delay was a welcome relief from seeing regulations passed that may not have been thorough enough.