If passed, the regulation will give the NSW Government the power to compulsory acquire land and flood affected farms under the Reconnecting River Country Program (RRCP) – a program that is part of the suite of Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism projects under the basin plan.
Stakeholders are being told the RRCP will establish a flow corridor which will be regularly inundated with environmental flows.
But SRI executive officer Sophie Baldwin highlights the NSW Government is not saying how often these environmental floods will occur, nor do they have any information on duration and timing.
“In fact, they haven’t yet even modelled flow volumes downstream of Yarrawonga,” she said.
“According to department officials, there are around 2700 landholdings in the Murray region who will be potentially impacted by this regulation.
“To sweeten the deal, the government is offering a one-off compensation payment, despite the fact they will be inundating land every couple of years or so.”
SRI chair Peter McDonald said this is another example of an “extremely poor policy”.
“New South Wales Government has basically said to the Riverina, ‘hey we want to come in and acquire your land, flood you every second or third year but don’t worry we will give you a one-off compensation payment, so it's all good’,” Mr McDonald said.
“It is just so ridiculous, I don’t have any words to describe it.
“The flooding is part of relaxing constraints, so more water can be sent downstream for ‘environmental priorities’, although we still don’t know what these priorities are.”
A RRCP handout provided to stakeholders claims the program has the potential to deliver benefits to regional economies in southern NSW, but Mr McDonald again highlighted there is a distinct lack of any detail.
“Riverina farmers and farmers right across the southern basin have been battling against this poorly implemented basin plan for years now, and rather than acknowledge there are some serious problems with flow targets and assumptions, departments want to swoop in and take our land, ultimately eroding our property right and a right to farm,” he said.
“What we really need is someone to have the courage to stand up against this mess, especially as the many deliverability flaws and unintentional environmental damage is rearing its head and can no longer be ignored.”
And to add further insult to the Riverina, Mr McDonald said this regulation will apply to any future environmental waterings that have the potential to flood our communities, not just the RRCP.
Mr McDonald said concerned landholders can write a submission stating their opposition to this regulation. It doesn’t have to be long, and it can be sent through to water.dpie.nsw.giv.au/landholder-negotiation-scheme.
To enable landholders to learn more about this regulation, the submission deadline has now been extended to November 24.
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