Greens demand immediate ban on NSW floodplain water harvesting amid legal setbacks
Greens MP Cate Faehrmann urges NSW to halt floodplain harvesting after the water regulator admitted enforcement uncertainty and courts dismissed related prosecutions.
During a parliamentary hearing, Grant Barnes, chief regulatory officer of the NSW Natural Resources Access Regulator, acknowledged uncertainty in enforcing floodplain harvesting after several prosecutions from 2020 to 2025 were withdrawn or dismissed. Greens MP and water spokesperson Cate Faehrmann argued the framework is fundamentally broken, reducing downstream flows and harming river health, and demanded that Water Minister Rose Jackson impose an immediate embargo on the practice.
Court decisions—including a 2020 case where all six charges against irrigator Peter Harris and manager Justin Timmins were dismissed and a 2025 ruling that invalidated floodplain harvesting licences—highlight legal vulnerabilities. Rose Jackson pledged to revise the framework following “disappointing legal decisions,” while Inspector-General of Water Compliance Troy Grant announced a federal audit of water-take data in key basins.
South Australia’s River Murray commissioner Emma Carmody called the regulator’s admission an “extraordinary revelation” that could jeopardize the state’s broader water-management plan. The NSW Irrigators Council, represented by Madeleine Hartley, maintains that floodplain harvesting remains lawful and already subject to an embargo.
Why it matters
Up to 571 GL of water each year could be re-allocated, affecting agriculture, ecosystems and downstream communities.
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