NSW flood buyout: Compulsory acquisition of riverside land back on table

NSW Water Minister Rose Jackson has refused to rule out compulsory acquisition of flood easements on NSW Murray and Murrumbidgee riverside properties.

NSW Water Minister Rose Jackson says she will be “considering all options”, when asked about compulsory acquisition of flood easements over riverside properties.

NSW Water Minister Rose Jackson is refusing to rule out compulsory acquisition of easements over 4000 Murrumbidgee and Murray riverside properties, so they can be flooded in a bid to push 80,000 megalitres a day of environmental water across the South Australian border.

The previous NSW Coalition government water Minister Kevin Anderson promised landholders’ rights would be protected, “with no compulsory acquisitions”, in the push to meet next year’s June 30 deadline on removing constraints.

When asked if she would make a similar commitment, Ms Jackson said: “I will be considering all options to deliver the Reconnecting River Country Program before making any decision on how the program will be delivered”.

Victorian Water Minister Harriet Shing in now the last Minister standing in clear opposition to compulsory acquisition, stating Victoria “won’t inundate private property without consent”.

Under the Murray Darling Basin Plan, the states were meant to have negotiated flood easements on up to 6200 Victorian, NSW and South Australian landholders’ riverside properties by June 30 next year, to ease constraints on environmental water being pushed down river systems and out onto flood plains.

But negotiating voluntary easement agreements over Victorian and NSW landholders has been painfully slow, either falling short or failing altogether.

Sixteen years of negotiations to partially flood just 116 properties along a 200km reach of the Murray River, from Hume to Yarrawonga, led to just 85 voluntarily agreeing to flood easements in return for compensation, while negotiations on the Goulburn River have stagnated for almost a decade.

National Irrigators Council chairman Jeremy Morton remembered sitting down with the Murray Darling Basin Authority in 2013 to discuss easing constraints, “but it’s progressing nowhere”.

Part of the problem also lies in the need to simultaneously push 150,000 megalitres a day down the Upper Murray Goulburn, Murrumbidgee and Darling Rivers to deliver a peak flow of 80,000 megalitres a day at the South Australian border for 30 days, all to water an additional 35,000ha of flood plains in the southern Basin.

The states have also had to confront the need to install new culverts, raise pumps and ensure riverside property access, plus indemnity for environmental water managers from liability for

inundating private land.

Ms Jackson said: “As part of the Reconnecting River Country Program, a suite of works and measures are being considered to mitigate impacts associated with delivery of the program.

“Stakeholders will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the program’s proposed works and measures as part of this year’s engagement activities.”