It says if the Connectivity Expert Panel does not have more time to properly complete its work it will struggle to fill vital data gaps and complete essential socio-economic impact analysis by its June deadline.
NSW Irrigators’ Council CEO Claire Miller said following a stakeholder meeting last week in the Northern Basin it was clear the panel still did not have the data to model the potential volume of reduced water access, nor the river operations expertise to determine whether rules changes would in fact achieve downstream targets.
Ms Miller said that after eight months, the panel had conceded it may not have all the baseline data required to even begin the socio-economic impact analysis by the June 30 deadline for its final report.
“The panel’s interim report details the socio-economic analysis required for the Minister to make an informed decision on any possible rules changes.
“Without the data to fill the gaps and inform the socio-economic analysis, the panel is on track to submit an incomplete report to the Minister.
“The New South Wales Government must reconsider the timeframes for the final report if this is to be seen as a serious and legitimate exercise,” Ms Miller said.
She said the interim report acknowledged that data and modelling limitations made it difficult to determine upstream impacts or downstream benefits.
It also overlooks water recovery initiatives and rules changes made since 2020 and disregards previous and future water recovery efforts under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
"There are no winners in this report,“ Ms Miller said.
“We know the Barwon-Darling river will not significantly benefit from more water unless we also address the other issues making the river sick like cold water pollution and European carp.”
