After having their floodplain harvesting regulations disallowed by parliament four times, the NSW Government has once again introduced regulations to legalise and licence floodplain harvesting this month.

The Nature Conservation Council claims that these regulations will “choke the floodplains of NSW Murray-Darling Basin, diverting environmentally critical flood waters and rainfall runoff into private dams”.

But the regulations have the support of the NSW Irrigators Council.

The regulations would legalise the floodplain harvesting irrigation already occurring throughout the Western Plains. 

There are divided opinions on whether the current floodplain harvesting is legal and whether or not allowing floodplain harvesting would be in breach of existing water laws. 

The Government had previously attempted to bring in almost identical regulations with its amendments to the Water Management (General) Regulation 2018 in 2020, 2021 and 2022 but all were disallowed by parliament’s Upper House – in particular by the Labor and the Greens.

Kevin Anderson Image: NSW Parliament

In a statement to the Western Plains App state Minister for Lands and Water and Nationals MP Kevin Andersen said “When it comes to managing water in NSW my view is healthy rivers, healthy farms and healthy communities.

"The NSW Government remains committed to implementing vital floodplain harvesting reform so we can meet our legislative obligations, strengthen protections for the environment and downstream communities and provide clarity for all water users and the regulator”.

However, Nature Conservation Council (NCC) Chief Executive Officer Jacqui Mumford says these regulations will mean more water not less is used for floodplain harvesting.

“It’s clear that the Perrottet Government is under the spell of big corporate irrigators. Why else would it ignore the fact that this disastrous regulation has been disallowed in the Upper House more than any other piece of legislation?”

Mumford described the newly gazetted ruled as “legislating obscenely generous rules” for irrigators that were “locking in the rapid downward spiral of the iconic Darling-Baaka River and our internationally recognised wetlands.

“These rules allow accounts to accrue to 500% of the licence volumes. The approach is completely unsustainable."

Like the NCC, the Labor opposition say they also support floodplain harvest licencing - just not the Governments model.

Image: Justin Field MLC.

“The way the NSW Government has gone about licensing floodplain harvesting just has not been fair, ” Rose Jackson, Shadow Minister for Water, Housing and Homelessness told the Western Plains App.

“This plan leads too many towns at risk of simply not having water for their towns and for the environment”.

Jackson said the Government’s targets for returning water to lakes and rivers was simply too low.

Minister Andersen refuted these claims.

“Licencing floodplain harvesting will benefit water users, downstream communities, and the environment, with up to 100 billion litres of water to be returned to the floodplains in the northern river valleys each year," he said.

Claire Miller CEO from the NSW irrigators council told the Western Plains App that “claims that regulation gifts more water to irrigators are just wrong." 

"Farmers have already been using this water with unlimited access. Regulation means they lose up to a third of their current access.” 

Miller reiterated the Government’s figure saying the Government's plans would see “100 billion litres per year” returned to floodplains, rivers and creeks.

Greens MP Cate Faehrmann says introducing the regulations so close to an election, after four previous disallowances, "shows complete and utter contempt for the voters of NSW".

“The National Party has effectively hamstrung the will of the parliament by introducing these regulations now knowing that we will have no opportunity to vote on them until well after the election," she said. 

“After each disallowance, I've called on the Water Minister to sit down and negotiate with the community instead of trying to shove the same laws down their throats again, but each time he’s done exactly that.  

“We all want to see floodplain harvesting licensed, metered and measured, but it needs to be ecologically sustainable and within existing legal limits,” Cate Faehrmann said.