27th June 2025
The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC) has called on the NSW Government to strengthen water sharing rules in light of Thursday's alarming State of the Environment Report. The report found, that despite some wet years, the health of rivers, wetlands, native fish and waterbirds continues to get worse.
In the report, the health of native fish communities across the region has been assessed as being in poor condition, and the number of critically endangered native fish has risen. All key indicators show poor outcomes and worsening decline.
There has been a concerning rise in the number of fish kill events. Since 2019, the frequency of fish kills has increased dramatically. Between 2009 and 2018, the average number of events per year was 21. This has more than tripled in recent years, with an average of 69 fish kills annually recorded between 2019 and 2023.
Inland wetlands are also under significant pressure. Only 12% of these critical ecosystems are currently protected, and 17 out of 28 assessed inland wetlands are classified as being in poor condition.
The health of rivers in the Murray-Darling Basin is equally troubling. Many are rated as either poor or very poor, driven in part by extremely high levels of nutrient runoff. This pollution is a key factor in the declining quality of these waterways, significantly impacting the livelihoods and wellbeing of people living in the Basin.
Waterbird populations are also suffering. Both the abundance and breeding activity of waterbirds are rated as poor and continuing to decline, largely due to the ongoing loss of wetland habitat.
As the first signatory to the Ramsar convention, Australia has a shared international responsibility to protect, restore and wisely use wetlands for current and future generations. But in inland New South Wales, that promise is a hollow one - with only 12% of wetlands protected.
First Nations Peoples have rights and cultural obligations to care for water under their laws and customs, yet a wide gap persists between technical jargon and Indigenous knowledge and values.
Traditional knowledge must be central to the restoration of the rivers and wetlands of inland NSW.
Statements attributable to Mel Gray, Water Campaigner, NCC:
"The law in NSW is clear, water sources and their dependent ecosystems must be protected before water is allocated to other uses like towns and irrigation.
"Drought or flood, fish just keep dying because the fundamentals required for survival are not provided by the water sharing rules - a problem the Minns government has promised to fix.
"Globally, the way freshwater is being used has tipped us beyond the safe zone. We must take better care of precious water on the driest continent on earth.
"No one should live in fear of their own water source. The people of Wilcannia, Menindee, Bourke, Walgett and everywhere in between deserve healthy, reliable water supplies."
