Ken Matthews' report into NSW irrigation claims delayed until September 8

Government acknowledged delaying the interim report “could cause some concerns”, but it says doing so will also allow Mr Matthews and his team of eight to get to the bottom of things. 

Mr Matthews, a former Commonwealth department head, was tasked earlier this month with conducting an independent investigation into the issues raised by the ABC’s Four Corners program Pumped on July 24. 

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The program aired allegations water had been stolen from the Barwon-Darling system by cotton irrigators, and also that NSW water bureaucrats had supplied industry with confidential information.

Regional Water Minister Niall Blair announced that Mr Matthews would provide an interim report by August 31 and a final report by the end of November. But while Mr Matthews has gathered the information required for the interim report, both he and the Department of Industry have agreed an additional week is required before it can be submitted to Mr Blair. 

Labor water spokesman Chris Minns said people should be skeptical the interim report is being held over until after Mr Blair’s appearance at budget estimates on Friday.

Mr Minns said Mr Blair should delay his appearance at estimates until after the interim report is released. 

Mr Blair has maintained he is the right man to oversee water in NSW, and has the support of his Coalition leaders. 

In a statement published this afternoon, Mr Matthews said: "This will allow me and my team to review the final draft of my report to ensure that no materials or findings within it could interfere with subsequent investigations by the appropriate authorities, or be prejudicial to legal processes.

“These final checks will allow for the interim report to be released publicly.”

Secretary of the Department of Industry, Mr Simon Smith said:

"These issues have raised a high level of public concern and we are ensuring that Ken and his team have the resources and independence needed to undertake this investigation in a rigorous and intensive manner. We recognise that delaying the interim report and its findings by one week could cause some concerns, but we believe it is a better outcome for the public if the extra time allows for maximum possible disclosure of the findings of the investigation.”

The interim report will be completed and submitted by Friday 8 September and released the following week.

Earlier, NSW Labor had attacked the terms of reference provided to Mr Matthews, and called for his investigation to also include the past three Nationals’ water ministers: Katrina Hodgkinson and Kevin Humphries, as well as Mr Blair. 

Labor also want a guarantee that any public servant, or former public servant, who provides information to the investigation, will be protected under the Public Interest Disclosure Act – and that all reports of water theft - not just the four instances listed in the Terms of Reference – will be investigated.

The terms of reference for Mr Matthews’ investigation currently focus on the Barwon-Darling irrigators who were alleged to have breached water entitlements and engaged in meter tampering – as highlighted in Pumped. 

The statement released this afternoon says since Mr Matthews started his investigation on August 2, he had built a team of four specialist investigators and four additional staff to assist. 

In four weeks he and his team have met with 39 people, received 3150 individual documents, inspected sites in Northern NSW, and met with representatives from regional communities, community groups, local government, property owners/irrigators, former public servants, environmental groups and senior staff from the Murray Darling Basin Authority and various Commonwealth and State government agencies.