Local involvement needed to achieve funding potential

Edward River Council has the capacity to ‘shape the region’s future’, but must be given the opportunity to lead the process.

This was the message delivered to the NSW inquiry into the Impacts of the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Act 2023 on NSW regional communities, which hosted a hearing at the Town Hall in Deniliquin on Tuesday.

It was addressed by a range of individuals from community and business groups, after receiving more than 100 submissions including many from the local region.

They was a focus on seeking collaboration and local co-design to attract and effectively use funding opportunities to sustain the economy into the future.

However, the unfair burden the region has played in water buybacks was made clear to the inquiry.

First to address the inquiry were ERC Mayor Ashley Hall and CEO Jack Bond.

In written submissions which have been presented to the inquiry panel, Cr Hall said:

“For over a decade, we’ve been living with the fallout of policy that hasn’t always felt fair, sustainable, or reliable.

“Our region was among the first and hardest hit under the Murray–Darling Basin Plan. We were told water recovery was necessary — and we accepted that in good faith. But when buybacks began, the impact wasn’t just economic. It was social, cultural and generational.”

He explained how the region has seen families walking away from farms, jobs disappearing, sporting clubs unable to field a team, school enrolments declining and volunteer groups struggling to survive.

He said the uncertainty the region has seen stalls growth, limits ambition and, eventually, forces people out.

However, Cr Hall’s submission also highlighted opportunities that could present themselves if policy settings are corrected.

“We are tired and frustrated, but also hopeful,” Cr Hall said.

“We believe there is a better way, that recognises local knowledge, respects past investment and supports future opportunity. That way starts with co-design.”

Cr Hall said with ERC located within the South West Renewable Energy Zone there is “a once-in-a generation opportunity to align energy, agriculture, and water policy in a way that supports regional resilience”.

“If we get it right, we can attract new industries, new jobs, and new training pathways. But to do that, we need policies that build confidence, not take it away,” he said.

Cr Hall said the request from the region was simple - listen to the lived experience of our region; acknowledge the weight that has already been carried, and commit to doing it differently this time.

“We don’t want to be a footnote or box ticked in someone else’s strategy. We want to be a partner in shaping what comes next,” he said.

Cr Hall was supported by CEO Jack Bond who said in his submission that the region has been “shaped and scarred” by the Basin Plan.

“We have lived through buybacks, have seen jobs go and watched uncertainty grow. And now we are being asked to absorb more (buybacks) with no clear roadmap forward,” Mr Bond said.

He said the threat now is that water will be purchased in haste, again without proper consideration of what the loss of productive capacity means to regional economies, or whether the water purchased will even reach its intended environmental outcome without complementary infrastructure.

“Environmental protection must not come at the silent cost of economic destruction,” Mr Bond’s statement to the hearing said.

But he said there was opportunity, and this was ERC’s central message to the committee.

“We are proposing a practical solution: fund local councils to employ dedicated transition officers whose sole focus is to identify, develop and coordinate locally led project opportunities under Basin-related programs.

“These officers would not be bureaucrats — they would be catalysts. Working with irrigators, Indigenous groups, agribusiness, youth, education, and environment sectors to co-design viable, fundable, and strategic pathways for transition.”

In conclusion, he said ERC had a simple request:

• Acknowledge that past programs have lacked true co-design.

• Recognise that local government is the logical vehicle for place-based planning.

• Fund us to lead.

• Empower us to convene the right partners.

• Give us the time and tools to deliver.

“If you do, communities like ours will not just survive this next phase — we will shape it,” Mr Bond said.

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Saturday, 15th July 2023

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