2 March 2026
The Nature Conservations Council of NSW (NCC), New South Wales's leading environmental advocacy organisation, has today responded to the Australian Government's announcement that they are exploring water entitlement purchases in the northern Murray-Darling Basin. While further water recovery in the northern Basin is needed and welcome, NCC warns that only reform to NSW's water sharing rules will deliver the promised river health outcomes that communities and ecosystems so urgently need.
Purchasing water licences from willing sellers as announced by Minister for the Environment and Water, Murray Watt, on 27 February 2026 will not, on its own, restore the Barwon-Darling River. Commonwealth purchased water entitlements do not carry the legal conditions and protections required to ensure the basic flow requirements of the Barwon-Darling River.
"The only way to fix the Barwon-Darling River is to reconnect its NSW tributaries - the Macquarie-Wambuul, the Namoi, the Gwydir and the NSW Border Rivers," said Jacqui Mumford, CEO of NCC.
"This requires significant improvements to the rules in NSW Water Sharing Plans to create a protected category of environmental flows known as Planned Environmental Water. Planned Environmental Water carries the legal conditions and priority status to ensure it reaches its destination" Mumford said.
NCC points to the July 2024 Connectivity Expert Panel Final Report as the definitive guide to what must be done. The Panel was convened by the NSW Minister for Water and delivered a comprehensive blueprint for restoring longitudinal connectivity from the northern tributaries through the Barwon-Darling River down to Menindee Lakes. Its findings were stark:
"The evidence that reduced connectivity is having severe impacts on ecosystem health and downstream communities is undeniable," the Panel wrote to the Minister.
Quotes attributable Jacqui Mumford, CEO of Nature Conservation Council NSW:
"The Connectivity Expert Panel was unequivocal: the environment has continually borne the risk of government inaction."
"Commonwealth water recovery is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to fixing the Barwon-Darling. The first thing that needs to be done is enshrining rules that automatically create the base flows that allow the rivers of the northern to connect to the Barwon-Darling."
"We call on the NSW Government to urgently to implement the Connectivity Expert Panel's recommendations in full."
"Public money spent on water buybacks will be wasted unless the policy failures that broke the river are fixed first. The health of the Barwon-Darling Rivers and the communities that depend on them cannot wait any longer."
