Skip navigation

New Floodplain Harvesting Regulations are a ‘Death Warrant’ for the Darling River

profile image
Cate Faehrmann
NSW Greens MP
30 April 2021

New floodplain harvesting regulations gazetted today by the NSW Government will mean the end of the Darling-Baaka river and must be disallowed by the NSW Upper House next week, says Cate Faehrmann, Greens MP and water spokesperson.

“These regulations legalise the historic take of millions of litres of water that should have been sent downstream for communities and the environment and now will never get there,” said Cate Faehrmann.

“The Water Minister has just wilfully signed the Darling-Baaka river’s death warrant, it will be the final nail in the coffin for the Darling-Baaka river if it is not disallowed. 

“Despite the ICAC finding that many government decisions over the past decade have been inconsistent with the Water Management Act and the priorities of water sharing plans, the Water Minister continues to act in the interests of her big irrigator mates.

“The massive volumes of water these regulations will permanently give to a handful of big irrigators in the northern basin while the Darling-Baaka faces ecological collapse is an absolute disgrace. 

“The regulations also allow irrigators to take an unlimited amount of rainfall runoff which will be devastating for the Darling-Baaka river which relies on these flows.

“After a record flood event, dams in the north are near overflowing, while the Menindee lakes remain less than one third full. These new laws will legitimise and make permanent this massive over extraction,” said Ms Faehrmann.

profile image
Cate Faehrmann
NSW Greens MP
30 April 2021
SHARE:

THE LATEST NEWS

New Upper House Committee Established to Further Investigate Underground Transmission Lines

The NSW Upper House has just voted in support of the establishment of a committee to re-examine the issue of Underground Transmission lines after the government-dominated State Development Committee’s previous report was resoundingly rejected by all non-government members and the community.

MEDIA RELEASE

Fish Kill Report Must Force Overhaul of Water Department: Greens

The NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer’s finding that mass fish deaths in the Darling-Baaka River was due to the failure of existing legal environmental protections in water law not being enforced or implemented should warrant an overhaul of the NSW Water Department, says Greens MP and water spokesperson Cate Faehrmann....

MEDIA RELEASE

Report Released into Underground Transmission Lines Inquiry Extremely Disappointing: Greens

Greens MP and infrastructure spokesperson Cate Faehrmann has labelled the NSW Upper House Inquiry into Underground Transmission Lines, which has just released its report this morning, as a pointless “tick and flick” exercise, with the government clearly having made up its mind months ago in favour of overhead transmission lines.

MEDIA RELEASE

‘Coastal Residents United’ Launched: New Alliance of Community Groups Fighting Inappropriate Development

Representatives from dozens of community groups campaigning to defend small coastal towns and pockets of sensitive and endangered coastal bushland from inappropriate development launched a new alliance today at the NSW Parliament. 


CAMPAIGNS