ICAC called in to probe Toorale governments’ floodplain harvesting

Authorities have been called in to probe NSW and federal governments’ flows onto a man-made floodplain at Toorale.

The NSW and Federal Governments are still using regulators and levies built at the turn of the century to divert the Warrego River’s flows onto a man-made floodplain at Toorale.

The NSW and Federal Governments’ diversion of the Warrego River’s flows onto a man-made floodplain at Toorale has been referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption by independent Barwon MP Roy Butler.

Mr Butler said there had been “a total lack of public consultation on the impacts of these water diversions on the community and the environment downstream”.

“It is time for an ICAC investigation to make sure that everyone in the Basin is following the same set of rules, whether you are a government agency or not.”

Toorale station’s cotton irrigation dams were meant to be decommissioned after former federal Water Minister Penny Wong purchased the property for $23.77m in 2008, which included 8122 megalitres of unregulated water entitlements on the Warrego River.

The NSW Parks and Wildlife Service then took control of the land and the station’s water licences were transferred to the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, but both agencies have continued to use the dams to divert water out onto the man-made floodplain and restrict the Warrego’s flows into the Darling River.

The Australian Floodplain Association says the CEWH appears to be operating under a different set of rules to other water users, by diverting far more than its licenced volume of 17,833ML and failing to meter its take.

The independent Natural Resources Access Regulator has already launched an investigation into the CEWH’s Toorale diversions, which locals estimate at 100,000ML this autumn alone.

NRAR is yet to determine if the diversions, via a regulator on the Warrego River, should be reported as a debit against the CEWH’s water allocation account.

But it appears Mr Butler and landholders along the Darling River have grown frustrated after NRAR failure to take action after months of investigation.

Mr Butler said “all water users and anyone who cares about the environment should be alarmed that these government agencies appear to have processes and relationships not available to anyone else”.

“The NSW Water Department refuses to remake the water sharing plan for the Warrego as a regulated river plan, despite the current unregulated plan being reviewed in the last few years. The responses I’ve received have been deeply unsatisfactory,” he said.