Wagga council doubles down after round two on Reconnecting Rivers and easement proposals

It was a case of deja vu all over again as Wagga City Council and farmers rehashed the debate over the local government’s response to the Reconnecting Rivers Country Program and proposed environmental easements on riverfront properties on the Murrumbidgee.

The matter has dominated two consecutive council meetings, with the hours-long discussion on Monday night centred on the wording of a proposed letter to the NSW Government requesting more extensive consultation and “an immediate halt in the Reconnecting River Country Program”.

Farmers have expressed frustration over a lack of consultation on the controversial draft Landholders Negotiation Scheme, which outlines plans to establish easements along the river and raises the prospect of compulsory acquisitions.

Councillors Jenny McKinnon and Amelia Parkins put the matter back on the agenda with a rescission motion but were unsuccessful in removing the call for a halt to the program.

“What they did by bringing up that motion originally was to bring a state and federal program into the council chamber to ask for action from the councillors about a program that we actually didn’t know about,” Cr McKinnon said.

“Like everybody else, I did my investigations and tried to find out about it and it’s bigger than Wagga, it’s bigger than the Wagga Local Government Area and I found that there’s actually a lot of sympathy in our local area amongst farmers and amongst river landholders for the reconnecting River Country Program and the environmental flows.

“So unfortunately, we’ve ended up with a situation that I think is very unsatisfactory in terms of a futile call for a halt.”

The pair voted against an alternate recommendation from Cr Tim Koschell but were defeated 7 to 2 as WWCC agreed to send a revised letter to NSW Minister for Water Rose Jackson and Federal Minister for Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek, and to request meetings with them and local Members Dr Joe McGirr and Michael McCormack.

Mayor Dallas Tout said the process, including a government information workshop, had been constructive, and the Council could now take a more informed position on the issue.

“I think at the end of the day, we ended up in a good place,” he said.

“We are asking for a halt to it. Whether that happens or it doesn’t happen, it was clarified [Monday night] that … we can still follow through with all of the other sections of the resolution.

Cr Tout said the revised letter would seek further clarification on legal issues related to potential easements and access to the river during environmental flows.

Spokesperson for landholders advocacy group SORD (Save our River Dwellers) Paul Funnell said the outcome strengthened the position of those “defending their property rights”.

“We are in a much stronger position now with a resolution calling for face-to-face meetings with ministers and by actually taking it federal,” he said, adding that they were not opposed to environmental flows.

“We are the stewards of the river system. We love it. We want to protect it,” he said.

“But this belligerent attitude of absolutely bastardising fundamental property rights just to push water across private lands is not a success.

“We have said quite clearly, take easements off the table. There are other options, and we will work with them. That’s why the program had to halt.”

While he acknowledged that a letter from local government was unlikely to change state and federal policy, Mr Funnell said it was a valuable step in raising awareness.

“The momentum has to start somewhere, so they’re not just writing to government, they’re not just writing to the ministers; it’s going to RAMJO (The Riverina and Murray Joint Organisation), it’s going to other local government areas.

“There is a federal election coming up, and I am going to make sure this is a federal election issue.”