NSW Farmers Association, Media Release, 15 August 2025
NSW Farmers is calling for archaic, century-old water rules to be overhauled after the state government released a tone deaf ‘what we heard’ report on a review into stock and domestic water use.
The report found most water users rejected the need for more red tape, and there was an opportunity to update permitted uses under the basic landholder right.
NSW Farmers Water Taskforce Chair Richard Bootle said the results of the review did not recognise that most farmers in the state today weren’t aware just how outdated the rules have become.
“The stock and domestic rules haven’t been updated since the Water Act of 1912. Farming has evolved, and our water rules must too – so farmers can use the water they need to grow our food, in the most sustainable and efficient way they know how,” Mr Bootle said.
“One fundamental for growing any broadacre crop is being able to control pests and weeds but the concept of spraying did not exist at the start of the last century – it is crucial that farmers be allowed to use their basic water right for this purpose and other key farm activities.
“NSW Farmers have been engaging with the state government on this issue for over two years, offering up clear solutions to this problem and to now have no commitment to updating the rules is not good enough.”
An expansion of essential uses for stock and domestic water under basic landholder rights was essential to ensuring modern farms could continue to produce food and fibre for the future, Mr Bootle said, with NSW Farmers calling for new guidelines to outline a modernised set of water rules.
“Those in the cities can turn on their taps without a second thought – but on our farms, a basic right to water to fulfil even our regulatory obligations is not a given,” Mr Bootle said.
