NSW Minister for Water Rose Jackson has last week appointed an Independent Review Panel for the Wilcannia Weir Replacement Project.
This follows Ms Jackson’s visit to Wilcannia in June to discuss the new plans for the weir with the local community.
Her visit was met with a united local community who expressed outrage at plans for the newly proposed weir, which had been changed without community consultation.
It was agreed at the proceeding council meeting that the project would be put on pause until the department was able to give answers on why the original weir plan had been rejected.
Ms Jackson has appointed Geoff Wise, chairman of the Western Lands Advisory Council as the panel chair.
The panel also includes former NSW Cross-Border Commissioner and Regional Town Water Supply co-ordinator James McTavish, member of the NSW Independent Water Advisory Panel professor Stuart Khan, and a representative from the Murray Darling Basin Authority, who will act as an observer.
The Wilcannia community have been trying to get a new weir established in town for more than 40 years to protect the town’s water supply through years of drought.
From 2018 to 2022 the community had been consulting with Water NSW to arrive at a design that included features such as a culturally safe fish way, a gate to control releases and a five-metre high weir wall.
In 2023, the proposed weir was rejected in the environmental approval process, and the Department of Climate Change, Energy and Environment put forward a new design that wasn’t developed in consultation with the community and didn’t include any of the key features that were originally laid out.
The Independent Review Panel press release from Water NSW states “the panel will look into environmental impacts, safety and operational concerns that led to the department changing the design for a new weir following the public exhibition of the project’s Environmental Impact Statement. The review will consider the rationale for changing the weir’s height and other community concerns.”
The panel plans to meet in Wilcannia on November 11 and is keen to hear from the local community.
