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NSW Cabinet reshuffle

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NSW food producers and irrigation companies are looking forward to working collaboratively with a number of new Ministers, announced by the NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet on Monday 20 December 2021.

Murray Irrigation Chair, Steve Fawns said, ‘there are numerous Ministers who have responsibility for issues that fall under the operations of Murray Irrigation, and it is important to develop positive working relationships with each one’.

With the new Cabinet in place, Murray Irrigation intends to contact Ministerial offices early in the New Year to arrange meetings.

Mr Fawns said Murray Irrigation will continue to pursue its key policy and strategy platform in relation to seeking funding to reduce infrastructure costs, solutions to Basin Plan issues and attracting more water into our region. 

A priority for the company is to organise a meeting with the new Land and Water Minister, Kevin Anderson.

An invitation was also sent from peak representative body The Murray Regional Strategy Group less than a day after his appointment as new Water Minister.

Mr Anderson, the Nationals Member for Tamworth, replaced Melinda Pavey in the Cabinet reshuffle.

The Murray Regional Strategy Group, which represents various farming, community and Indigenous organisations, has invited Mr Anderson to “meet with representatives of MRSG to discuss concerns within the region”.

MRSG chair Geoff Moar said the group had been working hard to improve and build relationships with the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, under which the water portfolio falls, and hopes this can continue with Mr Anderson as minister.

In its letter, MRSG congratulated Mr Anderson on his appointment and explained that it is a “coalition of water user groups from across the New South Wales Murray Valley who all share the same intent – to ensure equity and fairness in government policy and decision making about water use and availability in the southern Murray-Darling Basin”.

“Our aim is simple yet powerful: to enhance decision making by empowering policy makers with genuine local knowledge and expertise,” Mr Moar said.

“We believe that by connecting decision-makers with the lived experience of Murray Valley water users, including our Traditional Owners, we can avoid costly mistakes to Government and those which may compromise our future and that of future generations.

He added the group wants to form “an engagement framework with NSW to co-design solutions which protect the environment”, and provided Mr Anderson with its co-design framework, which it has been working through with DPIE and Water Infrastructure NSW.

Other new appoints to cabinet include:

  • Paul Toole – Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW
  • James Griffin – Minister for Environment
  • Sam Farraway – Minister for Regional Roads and Transport
  • Dugald Saunders – Minister for Agriculture
  • Rob Stokes – Minister for Infrastructure
  • David Elliott – Minister for Transport
The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper 13 January 2022

This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 13 January 2022.

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For all the news from The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, go to https://www.thebridgenews.com.au/