Ombudsman report damns water compliance performance

NSW Greens water spokesman Jeremy Buckingham said today's Ombudsman's report Water: Compliance and Enforcement once again details how the NSW government downgraded and neglected water compliance until 4 Corners exposed its failures in July 2017. He backed the Ombudsman's recommendation that the rollout of meters for water users be fast-tracked to be completed before the current target date of 2023.

"Once again we have a damning Ombudsman report into water compliance in NSW. Successive National Party water ministers have allowed compliance to be underfunded and neglected to the point where the Ombudsman has revealed that compliance officers were not issued Penalty Infringement Notice books for over a year after being transferred to WaterNSW," said Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham.

"Placing the Nationals in charge of water is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house. Unfortunately, water is an area where government action and inaction can result in significant windfall profits for some water users, which is why compliance and enforcement is so crucial.

"The Greens strongly back the Ombudsman's recommendation that the government speed up the rollout of metering for water users. The Ken Matthews inquiry recommended a 'no meter, no pump' rule, but the government has squibbed it with a slow roll out of water meters.

"It's not just the drought that has dried up our inland rivers, it is also decades of neglect, mismanagement, corruption and over-allocation."

17 August 2018