Ombudsman: NSW water reform encouraging, but staff should get an apology

It was also recommended the new regulator re-examine a case where then-Hawkesbury MP Ray Williams wrote six letters to Water Ministers, including Niall Blair, asking them to spare a Sydney Basin farmer from a penalty notice for illegal dam works in 2011, and to give the farmer a free irrigation licence. 

Labor has already called for Mr Williams, now representing Castle Hill, to be stood down. 

Despite the water management landscape changing significantly since the Ombudsman’s investigation began last year, the conditions and culture that necessitated bureaucratic upheaval did not escape mention in the report released today – with the Ombudsman recommending the Department of Industry apologise to staff impacted during the ‘Transformation’ process in 2016. 

That structural upheaval saw some functions and staff moved across to WaterNSW from the former DPI Water, with evidence showing that the agencies failed to “adequately resource or secure funding to adequately resource their compliance functions, take appropriate and timely action on instances of clear breaches of the law, and meet acceptable standards of public administration.”

In turn, Government accepted the report’s final recommendations after it was tabled in state parliament, with Regional Water Minister Niall Blair again pointing to government’s commitment to improve water compliance since the July 2017 Four Corners ‘Pumped’ investigation.

But despite accepting the Ombudsman’s at-times scathing assessment of water bureaucracy on his watch, Mr Blair also had a shot at Labor and the Greens for voting against the establishment of the Natural Resource Regulator. 

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“Given the Ombudsman’s endorsement of NRAR, it defies belief that both NSW Labor and the Greens voted against the legislation to create the independent regulator. It’s clear that Labor has no policy on water, unless it’s written by the Greens,” Mr Blair said. 

In the final report, the Ombudsman again covered the concerns that had persisted through previous water changes in NSW, including “chronic and severe under-resourcing, issues with staff training and core capabilities, a lack of adequate legal support and organisational culture issues”.

Particularly, the conduct of the state-owned WaterNSW after the 2016 ‘Transformation’ process was found to be “unreasonable or otherwise wrong” in that the organisation “failed to have sufficient regard for its compliance functions… in that it did not adequately address staff concerns about the role of compliance within WaterNSW’s service delivery model”.

This was a failure to meet acceptable standards in good public administration, the Ombudsman said.

In the wake of having some functions and staff from the former DPI Water, WaterNSW was also said to have “failed to adequately resource compliance functions… in that once it was aware that there were deficiencies in its resources it took twelve months to engage contractors to perform those functions”.

“This delay was unreasonable and a failure to meet the standards of good public administration,” the final report said.

Mr Blair acknowledged the report’s findings, noting the Ombudsman’s support for Government’s current water reforms, including $23.2m over two years for the NSW Water reform Action Plan, which he said would help to avoid the past practices that had been identified.

Among the Ombudsman’s recommendations was that the Department of Industry consider what action could be taken to achieve the objectives of the Draft Metering Framework sooner than the current final target date of 2023.

It also recommended the Department take action to ensure existing meters are compliant with the Interim Metering Standards or relevant regulations, and that executives and managers be given training, guidance and timely support in how to communicate with staff about change, contentious or confidential matters.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet, meanwhile, should update and amend the 1992 Memorandum, Provision of Information to Members of Parliament in consultation with the Ombudsman and ICAC to provide additional guidance to public sector staff when responding to MPs who directly approach them to advocate on behalf of their constituents. 

That recommendation followed a case study involving a Sydney Basin farmer not being issued a penalty notice for illegal dam works in 2015, after then-Hawkesbury MP Ray Williams wrote to Mr Blair asking him to intervene, and give him a free irrigation licence. 

The NRAR is recommended to review that case as well as another “to consider whether the current situation conforms to the Water Management Act.

“WaterNSW should provide all relevant documentation to NRAR within ten working days of receiving this report to enable it to carry out the review.” 

NSW Labor’s water spokesman Chris Minns says Premier Gladys Berejiklian has “no choice but to stand down Minister Williams, (as) there is evidence that he politically interfered in an investigation into water rorts that resulted in an outcome that was not in the public interest.”

‘The Minister responsible for water in NSW’ has also been told to review requirements to prove compliance offences, so that evidence obtained through technology such as remote sensing is prima facie admissible in prosecutions – similar to evidence obtained by speed cameras in driving offences.