Ruling puts NT water licences in doubt

A NT Supreme Court justice has quashed the Minister for Land Resource Management's decision to uphold 18 controversially allocated water licences.

LOSING a Supreme Court case over controversial water licence allocations presents the Northern Territory government with the opportunity to reconsider how it manages a precious resource, say environmental lawyers.

ON Friday, Justice Graham Hiley ruled that Land Resource Management Minister Willem Westra van Holthe failed to follow proper procedures when he upheld the water controller's decision to allocate 18 water licences from the Tindall and Oolloo aquifers, which feed the Katherine, Roper and Daly rivers.