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Transparency and accountability are the key to restoring public confidence in water management in NSW

The NSW Government must vigorously prosecute landholders who have harvested floodplain waters illegally, and release all the legal advice it has received on the status of floodplain harvesting over the past two years.

Media reports today reveal that Water Minister Melinda Pavey was told months ago that unlicenced floodplain harvesting was illegal under the Water Management Act but kept that advice secret during critical public debates on the issue. [1]

“The Minister not only kept the advice secret, she failed to act upon that advice by introducing measures to stop the continuing theft of massive volumes of water cross large parts of NSW,” Nature Conservation Council Chief Executive Chris Gambian said.

“At the same time, she was busy ramming through regulations that transferred billions of dollars’ worth of publicly-owned water to private landholders in the form of floodplain harvesting licences.

“Fortunately, those regulations and licences were overturned by the NSW Legislative Council, by a cross party group including Justin Field, Labor, Greens, Shooters and Animal Justice.

“But with billions of dollars’ worth of water at stake, you can be sure the irrigator lobby is pressing the Nationals to have another crack.

“This whole episode further undermines public confidence in the administration of water and the government’s ability to balance the needs of the environment and the interests of downstream communities against the incessant demands of irrigators.

“That’s why we need to know what the government was told, and when, regarding this critical matter of public interest before any more changes are made to water laws and regulations in NSW.”

Mr Gambian said the legal advice the Minister had kept secret was a critical piece of information that MPs were not given when casting their votes on the Floodplain Harvesting Regulation disallowance.

“The failure to disclose this critical advice was very favourable to the interests of irrigators because the regulation gifted billions of dollars of water to irrigators who were otherwise not entitled to it

“Any licensing of floodplain water take must guarantee an ecologically sustainable water flows right through to the bottom of the system.

“Anything less will have a devastating impact on river health and downstream farmers and communities.

“The law should be enforced and those landholders who have taken water to which they had not right should be prosecuted.”

[1] NSW labels flood-plain harvesting ‘legal’ but internal advice suggests opposite, SMH, 26-5-21


Darling-Baaka River delegation puts water back on the political agenda

A delegation of landholders, Indigenous leaders and recreational river users from the Far West has come 1000km to Sydney to urge the NSW Government to urgently address mismanagement of the Darling-Baaka River and Menindee Lakes. 

Since the death of millions of fish in Menindee Lakes in 2019, the plight of the Darling-Baaka River, the lakes and the ecosystems, communities and economies that rely on them have slipped off the political and media agenda. But the problems highlighted two years ago are unresolved and new threats are emerging.

Darling-Baaka River Water Delegation has come to Sydney to put the spotlight back on the issue and prompt the government to restore the health of the river and hope for river people. The delegation’s key demands are spelt out in the Darling-Baaka River Action Plan (attached) and  include:

  • Keeping the river running along its whole length by slashing water extraction for irrigation to ecologically sustainable levels that are realistic about the effects of climate change.
  • Limiting floodwater harvesting to ecologically sustainable levels by strictly limiting the issuing of new licences.  
  • Keeping Menindee Lakes and the Great Anabranch alive. Abandon engineering works that will reduce their ecological, economic and community value, and list them under the Ramsar Convention.
  • Putting Indigenous water needs ahead of irrigation industry demands.  

The delegation is meeting MPs from all sides of politics, and will urge them to support the following key actions:

  1. Enforce laws that require Indigenous cultural, drinking and environmental water be delivered ahead of irrigation water.
  2. Install gauges at Wilcannia and Menindee to ensure promised water flows are actually delivered.
  3. Nominate Menindee Lakes as a wetland of international significance under the Ramsar Convention.  
  4. Scrap the engineering works planned at Menindee Lakes that will limit the amount of water getting to the lakes and make the lakes empty faster than they do now.
  5. Stop irrigators at the top of the basin pumping if and when the river stops flowing along its whole length.
  6. Support voluntary water licence buybacks to reduce the amount of water extracted for irrigation. 
  7. Limit the issuing of floodplain harvesting licences to ecologically sustainable levels.
  8. Order the removal of illegal private dams, channels and levies that are trapping floodwaters and preventing water getting to wetlands, watering floodplains, recharging aquifers.

The delegation includes: 

  • Uncle Badger Bates, a Barkandji Elder from Wilcannia on the Darling-Baaka River. (Attending via Zoom due to COVID-19).
  • Derek Hardman, CEO of the Barkandji Native Title group. (Attending via Zoom due to COVID-19).
  • Rob McBride, owns Tolarno Station near Menindee Lakes, one of the biggest sheep farms in the world. 
  • Julie McClure, co-owner of Kallara Station, a sheep property.
  • Don Stewart, Treasurer of the Darling River Action Group, based in Broken Hill.

 

All delegates are available for interviews.

 


Menindee Lakes long overdue for listing under the Ramsar convention on international wetlands

The Nature Conservation Council has launched a campaign to have the Menindee Lakes system in Far Western NSW listed as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention.  

Today is World Wetlands Day, which marks the anniversary of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention) in Ramsar, Iran, 50 years ago, on February 2, 1971. 

“The Menindee Lakes have been dubbed the Kakadu of the South and one of the most important wetlands in southeastern Australia,” Nature Conservation Council Chief Executive Chris Gambian said. 

“It is not only a jewel in the crown of the Far West of NSW, it is a natural wonder of international significance that deserves to be recognised as such and managed appropriately.  

“After major floods, the lakes are the stage for one of the nation’s great wildlife spectacles, with more than 100,000 water birds feeding, roosting and breeding at the lakes’ edges. 

“They are also a vital oasis for a complex web of other species, including many threatened birds and animals, in a vast semi-arid landscape on the western edge of the state.  

“We are calling on the NSW Government to spearhead efforts to nominate Menindee Lakes for inscription on the Ramsar Convention’s List of Wetlands of International significance.  

“The proposal has the support of the local community, the Barkandji Traditional Owners, the region’s councils, and environment groups. 

“All that is required is leadership from the NSW Government to push the nomination forward. 

“Ramsar listing would not only give the chain of ephemeral wetlands and lakes added protection.  

“It would boost the economy by stimulating tourism, investment and much-needed jobs in one of the country’s most disadvantaged regions.” 

The ecological viability of the Menindee Lakes system is threatened by proposed engineering works that will prevent the lakes from ever filling again and drain much faster.  

The plan has been designed to benefit corporate irrigators at the top of the catchment by allowing them to retain megalitres of water for crops like cotton.  

Locals and the Nature Conservation Council are lobbying the NSW Government to abandon the plan. 

 

BACKGROUND   

Menindee Lakes 

Menindee Lakes comprises four main lakes – Cawndilla, Menindee, Pamamaroo and Wetherell – and several smaller lakes with a combined capacity of 1,731,000 megalitres, three and half times the capacity of Sydney Harbour. Lake Menindee, the largest of the lakes, is 16 kilometres long and 14 kilometres wide. Ref 

What are Ramsar wetlands  

Ramsar wetlands are those that are representative, rare or unique wetlands, or are important for conserving biological diversity. These are included on the List of Wetlands of International Importance developed under the Ramsar convention. Ref 

Ramsar wetlands in NSW  

Blue Lake, Lake Pinaroo (Fort Grey Basin), Myall Lakes, Fivebough and Tuckerbil Swamps, Little Llangothlin Nature Reserve, Central Murray Forests, Gwydir Wetlands, Narran Lake Nature Reserve, Paroo River Wetlands, Hunter Estuary Wetlands, Macquarie Marshes, Towra Point. Ref 


Premier Berejiklian, please the save Menindee Lakes – Kakadu of the south

The Nature Conservation Council welcomes Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s decision to visit Menindee Lakes today to see first-hand the impact water management decisions are having on local communities and ecosystems.

Ms Berejiklian’s visit coincides with the launch of the Nature Conservation Council’s Save Menindee Lakes Campaign, which aims to restore water flows to the lakes to support local communities and millions of water birds and fish.

“The Menindee Lakes is an outback oasis in western NSW and it is under threat,” Nature Conservation Council Chief Executive Chris Gambian said.

“The NSW Government plans to cut off the Lakes from the Darling-Baaka River, which would be a social, economic and ecological catastrophe.  

“I applaud the Premier’s for taking the time to see this ecological wonder first-hand. I hope she has time to listen to the concerns of local people.

“When I visited Menindee last month, local people were clearly distressed that the Darling-Baaka River and the Menindee Lakes were being slowly killed by poor water management.

“I hope that after hearing local concerns, Ms Berejiklian will reconsider her government’s decisions to bleed the lakes dry.

“These lakes have been called the Kakadu of the south because when they are full they support millions of waterbirds and fish and are teeming with life.

“But today, most of the lakes are bone dry. Too much water is being taken out of the river upstream for irrigation so there is not enough for the river and the lakes.

“Now the NSW Government and big irrigators are planning engineering works to ensure Menindee Lakes drain as fast as they fill.

“This would be a disaster for nature and for communities that rely on the lakes for their livelihoods and recreation, especially the Traditional Owners, the Barkandji people.”