The announcement should see water once again flowing down the Darling River and into South Australia, taking pressure off NSW and Victoria and resulting in an increase in future allocations.
The disallowance motion was put forward by independent Justin Field after NSW Water Minister Melinda Pavey amended the legislation seven months ago and lifted an embargo, giving the green light to northern basin irrigators to harvest flood water after a rain event in February.
Ms Pavey stated the exemptions resulted in 30 Gl of water being taken from the system.
This number is disputed by peak irrigation body Southern River Irrigators, which represents 2100 irrigators in the Murray Valley.
SRI put the figure in the range of 1000 Gl, and disputed a previous claim that floodplain harvesters’ storage volumes were 1450 Gl, saying they were more in the range of 4000 Gl.
SRI chair Chris Brooks said the disallowance of the Exemptions for Floodplain Harvesting amendment was great news for the region and for the Menindee Lakes and Darling River, which would see “some much-needed water return to their systems”.
“Our irrigation reliability has reduced from 84 per cent to 48 per cent in the past 20 years and our communities have been devastated,” Mr Brooks said.
“At the end of the day all SRI has been fighting for is fair and reasonable equity in the distribution of water in NSW.”
The exemption was disallowed in the NSW Legislative Council on September 22 and passed with a six-person majority.
The disallowance motion gained support from Labor, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party, Greens, Animal Justice Party and One Nation.
Against were the Liberal Party, Nationals and Christian Democrat Party.
Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP Mark Banasiak spoke before the vote was held in the chamber.
“It is not about pitting farmer against farmer or mate against mate, this is about marking the score card of a government which has failed,” Mr Banasiak said.
“Irrigators need certainty, downstream communities need certainty.
“Floodplain harvesting must be brought into a properly outlined water-sharing plan.”
NSW Irrigators Council chief executive Claire Miller said the exemption had been a step towards implementing the NSW Healthy Floodplains Policy, which would have licensed and metered floodplain harvesting by July 2021.
“1 July, 2021 can’t come fast enough to put an end to the confusion,” Ms Miller said.
The Water Management (General) Amendment (Exemptions for Floodplain Harvesting) Regulation 2020 was filed to provide “exemption from requirements under the Water Management Act 2000” for those taking water for the purpose of floodplain harvesting.
