NSW state MP for Murray Helen Dalton welcomed the NSW Upper House vote to disallow law changes that allowed for excessive floodplain harvesting in the NSW Northern Basin on Thursday.

“This result is a big victory for communities in the Lower Darling and irrigators in my electorate,” Mrs Dalton said.

“Just before Christmas last year, the National Party sneakily changed the law to allow for licencing floodplain harvesting – the practice of diverting rainwater into private dams before it reaches the river. The new laws allowed water take in the Northern Basin well in excess of legal limits and that means less water for communities in the Southern Basin.”

On Thursday, the Upper House voted 18-15 in favour of disallowing the law changes made last December.

Mrs Dalton said she was extremely disappointed with her Shooters, Fishers and Farmers (SFF) colleagues in the Upper House – who abstained from Thursday’s vote.

“I’m not in the Upper House, so I couldn’t vote on this motion. If I could, I definitely would have voted for the disallowance, was told the SFF would support the disallowance, so I was shocked to see them abstain and I will be taking this up with those MPs to seek an explanation.”

Mrs Dalton said it’s now up to the NSW Government to consult with farmers in the Southern Basin, as well as the North, to devise new laws that don’t disadvantage one group over another.

The Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party announced just prior to the meeting that it would not cast a vote in the motion put forward by green Independent Justin Field that would disallow regulation for floodplain harvesting.

“This disallowance motion is a political game from a green Independent looking for relevance that undermines years of hard work by the SFF to see floodplain harvesting regulated,” said Mark Banasiak, SFF MLC and Deputy Chair of the Select Committee on Floodplain Harvesting.

“My colleagues and I have been working with the Minister to get this right since 2019. The SFF will not be dragged into a political game by Independents or Greens because they cannot produce good water policy.”

This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 3 March 2022.