NSW Water Register Transparency
Petitioner:
Mrs Shelley Scoullar
| Member:
Dalton, Helen
| No. of Signatories:
2,351
| Date closed:
19/11/2020
To the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly, we the undersigned petitioners demand the NSW Government immediately implements legislation from the National Water Initiative (NWI) 2004, which was required to be implemented in all states in 2006.
The NSW Government is required to update the Water Management Act 2000 to meet obligations to establish a basin wide water register. The Water Access Licence Register needs to “state unambiguously who owns the entitlement, and the nature of any encumbrances on it” and “ covers entitlements and trades (both permanent and temporary)” and will include the specific responsibilities of “water services providers”.
The NSW Water register must therefore:
1] Publish required information of individuals and corporations if they hold a water entitlement or apply for a water access licence. All corporations who hold water entitlements should be required to disclose the names of related corporations, directors and major shareholders, including all licences operated by irrigation corporations.
2] Be accessible online and searchable by the public
3] Protect personal phone numbers, emails or residential addresses of individuals with water entitlements as per the Australian Privacy Act 1988
4] Be retrospective, thus backdating the required information to 2006 as per the agreements signed by all states in 2004.
