Leaky weir construction at Westview Farm in Mulloon, NSW (November 2018)
MEDIA RELEASE – 3 March 2020
The NSW Government will “actively consider” amending water and planning legislation to facilitate the construction of more landscape rehydration works across the State for catchment-scale landscape repair, drought and bushfire prevention.
Representatives from The Mulloon Institute, which focuses on rehydration and repair of agricultural landscapes, met with NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes and NSW Water Minister Melinda Pavey on Monday to discuss adjustments to the current compliance processes that are hindering farmers from building much needed landscape rehydration structures.
The most commonly used land rehydration structures are ‘leaky weirs’ – engineered natural structures that slow the flow of water in creeks and gullies, raise water levels and rehydrate floodplains and underground aquifers.
In Australia, over-grazing and land clearing have caused landscapes to dehydrate, creating eroded and degraded watercourses, and an increased susceptibility to drought and bushfires. To repair these watercourses, the Institute facilitates the construction of leaky weirs and related landscape rehydration works such as embankment restoration and watercourse plantings.
At present, catchment remediation with multiple landowners is difficult due to requirements for individual approvals for each structure; submissions from each landowner to multiple departments; and costly expert reports. The time and costs of complying with the necessary approvals and reporting requirements can be three to four times higher than the cost of building the landscape rehydration works.
The Mulloon Institute’s proposed amendments would make leaky weirs and related rehydration works ‘exempt’ or ‘complying’ developments, which in turn would expedite the establishment of landscape rehydration works while meeting necessary regulations.
The Mulloon Institute Chairman, Gary Nairn said: “We are delighted to have received commitments from Ministers Stokes and Pavey to actively consider implementation of the amendments we are proposing. We would like to see a situation where, as long as the works comply with NSW codes, our farmers can just get out there, build these structures and repair their land.”
Leaky weir at Westview Farm in Mulloon, NSW (February 2019)
Ultimately, landscape rehydration structures work to re-establish Australia’s natural wetlands, chains of ponds and swampy meadows. The resultant rehydrated landscapes significantly increase resilience to drought and decrease susceptibility to bushfire.
“With drought still crippling some areas of rural NSW, some severely impacted by the recent bushfires, and some dealing with flooding rains, never has effective water management been so crucial for our agricultural industry and sustainable environmental management.
“For farmers and graziers, landscape rehydration is a scientifically backed drought-proofing method of improving conditions on their properties and, importantly, allowing for returns to be generated in periods of severe drought, as we’ve recently seen.
“The laws in place protect the environment, biodiversity, water quality and supply. We believe our landscape rehydration structures fulfil these mandates. We’d like to see the legislation adjusted to recognise the value of these works and allow compliant projects to proceed with necessary certification attained later.
“Landscape rehydration initiatives leave us with landscapes better equipped to withstand drought, less susceptible to bushfires, and more environmentally sound. To achieve these benefits, we believe facilitating landscape rehydration works through legislative reform should be a key priority of the NSW Government,” said Mr Nairn
Journalists are invited to The Mulloon Institute Information Evening hosted by the Minister for Planning Rob Stokes tomorrow night at 7:00pm at NSW State Parliament.
The Mulloon Institute Chairman, Gary Nairn, will be available for media interviews.
Further details, including RSVP.
https://themullooninstitute.org/events/2020/3/4/7nrditxi0wp1ozv053zdjxrui49a37
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Media contact
Jane Munday
FTI Consulting
Jane.Munday@fticonsulting.com | 0488 400 248
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