Dairy company to pay record $425K for water theft
One of Australia’s biggest dairy companies will pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in a record water theft settlement.
A NSW dairy company has entered an out of court agreement to pay more than $400,000 in costs and donations in the state’s largest ever water theft settlement.
Leppington Pastoral Co Pty Ltd, owned by the billionaire Perich family, entered into an agreement with the NSW Natural Resources Access Regulator in November last year to pay $425,000 for the unlicensed construction of dams and pumps on a property in southwest Sydney
Leppington Pastoral Co is the majority owner of food and beverage company Noumi, formerly Freedom Foods, and has an extensive development portfolio.
Owner Tony Perich and family – whose net worth was valued at 2.69 billion in 2021 – made headlines in 2020 for raking in $30 million of taxpayer money for the sale of $3 million worth of land to the Commonwealth government for Western Sydney Airport’s second runway.
Leppington Pastoral Co, based at Oran Park in southwest Sydney, offered in October to pay the Natural Resources Access Regulator $300,000 for the unlicensed take of an estimated 1000-2000ML of water annually, captured in dams built in the 1980s.
NRAR, which first detected the unlicensed take of water in 2019, accepted the company’s offer in November.
Leppington Pastoral Co also agreed to pay $100,000 for the water regulator’s legal and investigation costs, and a $25,000 donation to Landcare for work on South Creek, which runs between the Sydney suburbs of Oran Park and Leppington.
The $425,000 charge has set a new record as NRAR’s largest water theft settlement to date.
NRAR director water regulation (east) Gregory Abood said the company had operated the property for many years but didn’t hold a water access licence for water take or a water management works approval for dams and pumps.
“Three large dams on the property were constructed in the 1980s and have capacity to hold around 1680 megalitres of water used to grow dairy feed,” Mr Abood said.
“Best estimates of the water use vary between 1000 and 2000ML annually, which could fill between 400 to 800 Olympic-sized swimming pools each year.”
It was only after NRAR intervened that the company got the necessary works approvals and a zero share water access licence on October 17 2019, according to a statement released by the regulator. An initial water allocation for the site was purchased on May 20, 2020.
As a result of the alleged breach, the farm operator faced potential prosecution under sections 60A and 91B of the Water Management Act 2000, according to the NRAR statement.
The company has also agreed to restore South Creek by removing a large dam. The removal of the dam would return 990ML of water to South Creek, according to the regulator.
“In this matter the EU (enforceable undertaking) is a positive outcome for all parties and is considered both a sensible and preferred option over prosecution as the amount is likely to be at least as high as a court penalty,” Mr Abood said.
“The undertaking is also a great result for the people of NSW because it avoids NRAR incurring significant legal costs and delivers a regulatory outcome much sooner than a prosecution in the Land and Environment Court.”
“The matter also highlights NRAR’s ongoing auditing and investigative work to enforce the state’s water laws in both metropolitan and regional areas and ensure water is shared fairly and the environment is protected,” Mr Abood said.
Leppington Pastoral Co Pty Ltd has grown irrigated dairy feed on its property on the Northern Road for decades.
According to its website, the company owns thousands of hectares of land across multiple dairy properties in the NSW towns of Leppington, Bringelly, Wilberforce and West Wyalong.
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