FORMER Wagga city councillor Paul Funnell, says property rights have been stripped away by the Minns Labor government’s latest amendment to the Water NSW Act, 2014, which allows government agencies to inundate private land for the cause of the environment.
“In a single move, the Minns Labor Govt last Thursday stripped everyone of their fundamental property rights by sneaking through the Water Amendment Bill 2026,” said Mr Funnell, who runs sheep and irrigation on the Riverina.
The Water Management Amendment (Easements for Inundation) Bill 2025 will create a framework for permanent easements, enabling government water authorities to legally inundate private land for environmental water delivery purposes.
The NSW government claims the legislation will allow water to flow into “areas in need, such as the internationally protected Gwydir wetlands”.
Mr Funnell says property rights are overthrown by one section of the legislation – the Schedule 2 Amendment No. 74, which covers inundation of private land and moving water to across land including private land.
The amendment omits’ “community.” from section 7(1)(k) and inserts instead “to release or supply water, including environmental water, to inundate land for an environmental purpose, to operate works to inundate land for an environmental purpose, in the exercise of a function, to inundate land.”
Section 37, formerly titled “Compensation by Water NSW for damage” now includes after section 37(3) “No compensation is payable under this section for damage resulting from the inundation of land as a consequence of anything done, or omitted to be done, by Water NSW.”
“This is a violation of everyone’s property rights and the erosion of common law rights that are the basis of the Westminster system which is being attacked by this legislation,” says Mr Funnell.
“This should send a shiver down the spine of every person in this state.”
Independent MP Helen Dalton plans to introduce a further bill to parliament that would provide accountability for affected landholders.
“I ask the people of Sydney and the major cities to imagine if this principle was applied to them, ” she told parliament last week.
The NSW Nationals say the legislation will erode the property rights of landholders, causing further breakdown in trust with regional communities.
The Nationals have also raised alarm over a late-stage government amendment, not properly consulted on with landholders or peak bodies, which would remove compensation rights for damage caused by government-directed inundation.
Shadow Minister for Water Steph Cooke said the Bill entrenches a rigid and unfair approach to environmental water delivery that locks landholders into permanent impacts without genuine choice.
“This Bill locks in permanent inundation easements as the only pathway to delivering water to the environment, stripping landholders of flexibility and removing the ability to tailor agreements to individual circumstances,” Ms Cooke said.
“What is most alarming is the government’s refusal to genuinely consider deed-of-release arrangements, despite repeatedly acknowledging landholder concerns.
“Instead, they have doubled down on permanent easements and now, at the eleventh hour, introduced a change to remove compensation rights entirely.
“That is a major escalation with zero consultation.”
