NSW politicians vow to fight controversial law allowing private property inundation

Politicians and landholders in southern New South Wales are vowing to fight a controversial new law that will allow the inundation of private property from environmental water flows under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

The Water Management Amendment (Easements for Inundation) Bill was passed by the New South Wales parliament on Thursday, despite attempts to have it amended and referred to an inquiry.

Environmental flows are an integral part of the basin plan and aim to provide water to support ecosystems throughout the Murray-Darling.

NSW has obligations under the plan to deliver environmental water, but has been hamstrung by constraints that limit the release amount, such as low-level bridges and river capacity.

The NSW government said the legislation would allow water to flow into areas in need, such as the internationally protected Gwydir wetlands.

Independent Murray MP Helen Dalton has described the bill as an attack on private property rights.

"I ask the people of Sydney and the major cities to imagine if this principle was applied to them, " she told parliament this week.

"Australians would never tolerate that in metropolitan areas."

'No compensation' for easements

The creation of easements allows the government to legally flood parts of private properties, restricting landholders' use of their own land.

Deb Blackwell is a grazier at Mundarlo, a small community on the Murrumbidgee River east of Wagga Wagga.

She has been in negotiations with the state government about how the flows will pass through her property for two years, including compensation for when her land is underwater and unusable.

"We have made it very clear to the government that we do not object to the flow of environmental water, but we have always objected to the imposition of easements on our land," she said.

"It is the worst outcome that is possibly imaginable."

Accountability bill flagged

Following the passing of the bill, Ms Dalton, alongside federal One Nation Farrer MP David Farley, said she would look to draft further legislation to protect landholders.

"Because this is happening in rural and regional Australia, the government thinks no one will notice, but we are not going to stay quiet about it," she said.

"I'm going to introduce a bill to try to have some accountability."

Mr Farley said the state's farmland was part of the nation's sovereign security.

"It's up to a government to manage the sovereignty of the nation, and food and the assets that produce food are critical to it," he said.

"What NSW has demonstrated is that it's taking away that resilience and that right."

'Good faith' flows

NSW Water Minister Rose Jackson introduced the bill to parliament and said the delivery of environmental water had been a longstanding function of the state's water authority.

"WaterNSW is currently limiting the release of environmental water in situations where flows would pass over private land due to liability concerns," she said.

Ms Jackson said the bill would help ensure environmental water reaches its intended destination, and it was not about giving WaterNSW the power to inundate land without regard to landholders.

"The amendments in the bill do not alter or diminish good faith requirements under the Water Management Act in any way, and they will not affect a landholder's ability to commence civil proceedings in tort against WaterNSW if they do not make water releases in good faith."

Ms Blackwell said she now held grave fears for the mental health of local landholders.

"The river land is our most valuable land, it's our most productive land," she said.

"There's so many levels of deception in this matter that it is honestly almost going to be a matter for the High Court."