L-R: Wilfred Finn (Mulloon Law Committee), Trudy Weirs (MLC), Gary Nairn AO (The Mulloon Institute, Chairman), Carolyn Hall (TMI, CEO), Matt Egerton-Warburton (MLC, Chairman)

The Mulloon Institute (TMI) held an information evening at NSW Parliament on 4 March 2020 to showcase proposed legislation amendments by the Mulloon Law Committee, which aim to help facilitate the efficient construction of Landscape Rehydration Works throughout NSW.

Speakers included The Mulloon Institute’s Chairman Gary Nairn, CEO Carolyn Hall, Trudy Sheehan from King & Wood Mallesons (Planning), AITHER’s Wilfred Finn (Water) and Gadens’ Matt Egerton-Warburton from the Mulloon Law Committee

The event was hosted by the Hon. Rob Stokes MP, NSW Planning and Public Spaces Minister with 140 attendees including farmers and landholders, supporters, politicians and ministerial staff.

The forum covered planning and approval issues encountered by TMI and landholders when attempting to remediate catchments. At its extreme, approval for one project took 30 months and cost $350,000, but cost less than $100,000 and took only three weeks to construct. The Mulloon Law Committee has drafted legislation to streamline this process with the aim of expediting the establishment of landscape rehydration works while meeting necessary regulations.

Earlier in the week representatives from TMI met with NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes, NSW Water Minister Melinda Pavey, Deputy Premier John Barilaro, NSW Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall and senior policy advisors from NSW Environment Minister Matt Keen's office to discuss adjustments to the current compliance processes that are hindering farmers from building much needed landscape rehydration structures.

Ministers Stokes and Pavey made commitments to actively consider the proposed amendments to facilitate the construction of more landscape rehydration works across the state for catchment-scale landscape repair, drought and bushfire prevention.

The proposed amendments are contained in the NSW Ministerial Briefing Paper
https://themullooninstitute.org/s/2020-03-02-TMI-Briefing-Paper-Landscape-Redhydration-Works.pdf