Engagement – September 2024

A. The NSW Government supports the delivery of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in full. Progressing the Basin Plan is our best shot at protecting the health of our rivers and groundwater systems and supporting the communities and economies that rely on them.

Any shortfall in the 605 GL SDLAM offset will be determined by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority following their reconciliation process by the end of 2026. In the same way the SDLAM offset was apportioned between NSW, Victoria and South Australia, any shortfall will also be apportioned between the three southern Basin states.

Our focus is on delivering existing projects, including those under the SDLAM Acceleration program, and putting forward new proposals that are supported by communities and will contribute to the water recovery targets in the Basin Plan.

We are doing everything we can, and supporting other Basin governments to deliver existing and new SDLAM projects to maximise the contribution to the 605 GL SDLAM offset.

The NSW Government has developed the NSW Alternatives to Buybacks Plan (PDF, 1817.49 KB) to show how commitments in the Basin Plan can be delivered in a way that achieves good environmental outcomes while minimising the exposure of NSW communities to the impacts of broad scale water buybacks by the Australian Government.

A. There are consultation activities taking place with approximately 130 different landholders on the SDLAM Acceleration Program, made up of 45 private landholders and various agencies, including Crown Lands and National Parks.

The department is keen to work with landholders and negotiate with them on a fair and reasonable way forward.

The infrastructure sought to be included in the program, the department needs to incorporate the views of landholders and get their agreement on what we're doing, and we very much want to work with them to try that make that happen.

We are working under the Just Terms Act, using that process with people and being very open about what we're doing and how we're going and very much trying to come to an agreed solution.

The majority of people in the areas we're working are very supportive of the projects and are interested to work with us to agree on those outcomes.

There will always be in projects such as this people who may feel upset by what we're doing, but we'll do our best to work with them to overcome any concerns and issues.

A. The program is running within existing timelines.

As mentioned in the presentation, our work has involved design, planning and gaining stakeholder approval, including environmental approval and landholder agreements. Some designs are yet to be finalised and some construction is commencing.

As to the timelines, the department has recently awarded a contract for Tuppal Creek, is close to awarding a contract in the Shear Paddock area of Koondrook-Perricoota, and is working to tender and engage a managing contractor who will be responsible for delivering the majority of the works across the region, to work closely with ourselves at the department, and be the principal contractor running the majority of the sites and coordinating the sites and the works.

With 77 or so sites, there's a lot of work to be coordinated in a lot of places, a lot of stakeholders and a lot of people we need to talk to make it all happen. We're looking to appoint that contractor in November 2024, with the view that they'll be starting work in earnest in the first quarter of 2025

A. The department is planning for public exhibition in November 2024. To stay informed, visit the SDLAM webpage.

A. When we were in Deniliquin in September, we met with the local councils and they did mention that there are a lot of other competing major projects in and around the region, such as the transmission lines, renewable energy zones and solar farms. So it's not just pressure on our landholders, there will be pressure on accommodation, there'll be pressure on resources and skills.

We very much recognise there are particular landholders who have multiple effects from the state from various projects.

The Reconnecting River Country Program will have some overlapping stakeholders in and around the Mid-Murray Anabranches. While we're dealing with these stakeholders on delivery of the SDLAM Acceleration Program, we're very much aware that there are these other projects happening like the planning phase of the Reconnecting River Country Program, and being open with them about our engagement in those areas.

We are hearing landholders are feeling overloaded by engagement and people are becoming a bit overwhelmed with it all.

Consultation fatigue is an issue across the Southern basin and we're very conscious of that. Wherever possible, we're looking to combine engagement activities and consultations to reduce the burden on stakeholders and consider the impact on mental health.

A. Yes, advertisements for roles are placed on the "I work for NSW" recruitment page and internal departmental recruitment noticeboards.

A. From a project point of view, our projections haven't changed and we're still looking based on our previous modelling to achieve the 45 gigalitres per year saving. As mentioned earlier, the actual savings and achievements will only be recognised when the final modelling, or next round of modelling, is done in 2026.

A. Other major infrastructure work being undertaken in the region includes:

• Reconnecting River Country Program has had funding confirmed until December 2026, allowing the department to progress the technical studies in the Murray and complete the final business case for the Murrumbidgee
• early works projects from for the Reconnecting River Country Program, including Mundarlo Bridge, Mundowy Lane raising, and new regulators within the Werai Forest
• the Murrumbidgee final business case will be completed in 2025
• the program is not progressing the final business case for the Murray program area until the outcomes of the Australian Government's constraints roadmap are determined.
• public exhibition for the Landholder Negotiation Scheme is open on the draft process for how we would negotiate voluntary agreements with landholders for future changes in environmental flow regimes.

For details on current community consultation and how to make a submission, visit our have your say webpage.