28 February 2024
After almost 12 months in the job, the Water Minister has failed to come up with a plan for regional water security, and instead, has only managed to sell rural communities down the river with a sham re-written Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
Shadow Water Minister Steph Cooke said today’s Budget Estimates hearing shows the NSW Labor Government has neglected the vital water portfolio, with a growing list of issues piling-up under the Minister, who has failed to demonstrate any real leadership in the role.
“Labor has very little to show for the past year. All they’ve managed to achieve is to cancel visionary projects like raising the Wyangala Dam wall, signed-us up to a sham Murray Darling Basin Plan deal, and kicked key water security projects further down the road,” Ms Cooke said.
Ms Cooke said the Water Minister did not appear to know the details of significant water projects.
“The Minister was not across the changes being made to vital infrastructure projects like the Wilcannia Weir, and in a stunning admission, said community consultation on those changes was only “cursory”,” Ms Cooke said.
Ms Cooke said that in relation to the new Murray Darling Basin Plan deal, when asked to identify the NSW water recovery target within the broader 450GL Commonwealth Government environmental target, the Minister responded: “I don’t think we have a clear line of sight on that yet.”.
“The Minister failed to provide communities and stakeholders with any confidence around the opaque deal they’ve done with the Commonwealth on the Murray Darling Basin Plan; we still don’t know what they’ve signed us up to, and alarmingly, the Minister doesn’t even seem to know the amount of water the Commonwealth is seeking from New South Wales,” Ms Cooke said.
“Worse still, the Minister admitted that nothing has been done to put in place the structural adjustment packages that we know we will need should buybacks eventuate,” she said.
Ms Cooke said the Water Minister was also unable to identify the fourteen towns and villages that have been impacted by boil water notices in recent months.
“The NSW Labor Government is neglecting the basic needs of our communities; they have wasted precious time that could have been used to address critical issues around water supply and security, including in towns like Yass and Tamworth,” Ms Cooke said.
“They have no plan for the regions; we have projects in desperate need of funding, with towns that literally don’t have drinkable water coming out of their kitchen taps, and the best they can come up with is reviewing business cases.
“All we’ve seen lately from this Minister is a glossy ‘plan’ on avoiding water buybacks with very little substance, a media release that re-heats Coalition-era projects that have stagnated under Labor, and another release that announces yet another business case for water projects that should be getting underway now, and not kicked further down the road.
“Our towns are expanding, but without the proper infrastructure in place, this growth will always be held back. Having safe and secure water supplies at our schools, hospitals, homes, and small businesses is a basic requirement, and if this city-centric NSW Labor Government is serious about giving our rural and regional communities every opportunity to thrive, they must govern for the entire state, and focus their attention on issues beyond the Great Divide,” she said.
Comments