State and federal National Party MPs have slammed the decision by the Minns Labor Government to ditch plans to raise the Wyangala Dam wall.
Nationals Member for Cootamundra and Shadow Water Minister Steph Cooke said the decision is a short-sighted move that demonstrates how clueless the Premier is when it comes to the needs of regional communities.
"The Premier said during the election campaign that he did not 'pretend to have any expertise about regional New South Wales'. Well Premier, today you have proven that to be very true," Ms Cooke said.
"Make no mistake, this project - which would have increased Wyangala's storage capacity by 53 per cent, or an additional 650GL - was crucial to delivering water security and drought resilience, not to mention flood mitigation benefits for communities right along the Lachlan, from Cowra to Forbes and beyond.
"This is a devastating blow to those communities, who will now be asking just how many floods and droughts it will take for the NSW Labor Government to take this project seriously?"
Federal Nationals Member for Riverina, Michael McCormack, said the decision was a devastating outcome for regional communities downstream of the dam.
"This is nothing short of a disaster for those families and businesses who have had the Lachlan River flood through their properties too many times," Mr McCormack said.
"The Forbes community has experienced a major flood event every seven years on average since 1887 - and has endured at least six flood events in the past dozen years.
"These short-sighted decisions are being made in offices in Sydney and Canberra - I challenge those bureaucrats and Ministers making these decisions to come out to the communities that will be most affected to look them in the eye and tell them to their faces.
"What we are seeing under the Federal and State Labor Governments is an assault on water and on regional people, make no mistake."
