Dalton’s water Bill progresses – environmental water is “a mess”

Member for Murray Helen Dalton in NSW Parliament, where she presented her environmental water Bill.

By Krista Schade

Member for Murray Helen Dalton’s Water Management Amendment (Register of State and Commonwealth Water Access Licences) Bill 2025 was read for the second time in NSW Parliament recently.

“I rise to speak for the people of the bush, the farmers and the irrigators and the small-town communities who’ve been doing it tough, while water policy is being made behind closed doors,” Ms Dalton said in her speech.

“The bill forces the Minister for Water, the Honourable Rose Jackson, to set up a public register showing every licence, including the tracking of rules‑based water, held by the New South Wales or Commonwealth governments, including how much is owned, where it is from, what it is used for and how it is traded.

“The register must be online, easy to find, easy to understand and located in one department area.

“Why does this matter?

“It matters because, as of December 2022, governments held over 2.5 million megalitres, which is 2,505 gigalitres, of water licences across New South Wales, yet there is no central, transparent record of what has been done with it.

“There is no way to track trades.

“There is no consistency in the data. There is no way for the public or irrigators to check whether rules are being followed.

“Some licences are not even marked as environmental. Some water trades show transactions for zero dollars.

“The department's answers do not match their own public registers.

“It is a mess.”

The independent member said while the NSW Government is “demanding strict metering from farmers,” government‑held environmental water rarely gets metered and, the data is not made public.

“We do not know whether the water actually reaches the wetlands,” Ms Dalton said.

“We do not know how much is lost in transit. When it comes to environmental water it is, ‘Just trust us’.

“That is not good enough.

“If the aim is to protect the environment, show us the evidence—meter it, report it, and prove it.”

Ms Dalton says the current procedure is unbalanced, claiming the Water Management Act requires sign-off on several provisions from the Environment Minister, Penny Sharpe, but not from the Agriculture Minister, Tara Moriarty.

“That is unbalanced,” Ms Dalton said in Parliament.

“Rural livelihoods should matter just as much as environmental paperwork. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

“A public register will not solve every problem, but it is a fair start.

“If governments can hold water, the people deserve to see the books.”