Northern Basin irrigators will be banned from floodplain capturing after the NSW Government increased the Menindee Lakes storage trigger from 195 gigalitres up to 250 gigalitres – a downstream rule is being used to narrow upstream users’ access. The announcement came without consultation with irrigators, nor has it included any form of compensation for those affected.
Nationals Senator for New South Wales, and Shadow Minister for Water, Emergency Management, and Fisheries and Forestry, Ross Cadell, said the lack of consultation had become a cornerstone of both levels of Labor Government.
“Water policy in this country needs to be clear and transparent,” Cadell said.
“Instead, Labor has used the stroke of a pen on Macquarie Street to again muddy the waters, leaving regional communities with no trust in their elected officials.
“Our regional communities have lost faith in Government to listen, care, and respond.”
Under the new rules, northern Murray–Darling Basin irrigators will be restricted from accessing floodplain flows unless Menindee Lakes reaches 250 gigalitres. The current threshold is 195 gigalitres.
“When you make changes of this scale, it is not just the Menindee Lakes who bear the consequences, it is every community in the Basin,” Cadell said.
Shadow Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Resources and Member for Parkes Jamie Chaffey said the decision was “bureaucracy gone mad”.
“It is a clear case of a department making decisions without the NSW Minister for Water taking any responsibility, and without any proof this will make an ounce of difference to environmental outcomes or fish deaths,” Chaffey said.
“On paper, this might not look like much, but on the land, it’s a whole world of difference. This is yet another knife in the heart for regional communities. Our farmers are already tackling enormous challenges to provide the country with food and fibre, and they are at the heart of wealth generation for our regional communities and the nation.
“If our farmers become less productive, that means our regional communities are at risk of losing more people, more teachers from schools and more doctors from hospitals.
“There was no consultation before this decision was made, and this move to slash irrigators’ rights has been made without any input from the people and businesses it impacts, and with no regard for the federal Menindee and Basin Plan Reviews currently under way. Submissions for those reviews do not close until 1 May 2026.
“Something smells here, and it’s not the fish.”
Senator Cadell added that “Northern Basin communities have been experiencing years of regulatory conflict, litigation and administrative intervention from all levels of Government.
“What we need now is transparency, and meaningful consultation, not lip service from city centric bureaucrats.
“I call on the State Labor Government to reverse its decision and commit to proper consultation with Basin communities.”