EDO NSW reviewed the draft Water Resource Plan for the Barwon-Darling made by the NSW Government under the Commonwealth Water Act 2007.
These key documents are intended to deliver the flow regimes necessary to restore the Basin to health. We were disappointed to find that, in the seven years since Basin Plan 2012 came into effect, the NSW Government has undertaken a process containing multiple legal flaws, most notably in the processes which should have ensured that the environmental watering requirements of the system can be met.
There was also a disappointing failure to provide basic information about whether, and to what extent, the NSW Government has accepted the recommendations of both the Natural Resources Commission and the Independent Inquiry into the fish deaths which occurred over the summer of 2018/2019.
