Nsw Government in Breach of Snowy

NSW GOVERNMENT IN BREACH OF SNOWY CORPORATISATION ACT 1997 No.99

The Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Act 1997 No 99 (Assented to24th November 1997) Part 8 Miscellaneous Section 43, states “This Act binds the Crown in right of NSW and, in so far as the legislative power of Parliament permits, the Crown in all its other capacities”.

Section 57 states:- SNOWY SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE 1. There is established by this Act a body corporate with the corporate name of Snowy Scientific Committee. 2. The Committee has the functions conferred or imposed on it by or under this or any other Act. 3. The principal functions of the Committee are as follows: To Advise the Water Administration Ministerial Corporation each year on the regime for the release of water for environmental reasons under the Snowy water licence. a. To advise that Corporation from time to time on the adequacy of those releases and the programs for management and restoration of the catchments (and the Snowy River and other rivers and streams) receiving water from those releases, including the arrangements for consultations, monitoring and on-going research about those programs. 4. The Committee is to produce every year a public state of the environment report on the catchments (and the Snowy River and other rivers and streams) affected by the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme. The report is to include an executive summary of its contents. The Committee is to provide a copy of each such report to the Water Administration Ministerial Corporation. 5. The Committee is to consist of 6 members appointed by the Minister. 6. Of the members of the Committee: a. one is to be nominated by the Environment Protection Authority, and b. one is to be nominated by the Director-general of National Parks and Wildlife, and c. one is to be nominated by the Snowy Genoa Catchment Management Committee, and d. Two are to be nominated by a Minister of the State of Victoria (one being a person nominated to represent environmental interest groups), and e. One is to be an independent scientist with expertise in aquatic environments nominated by the Minister for the Environment. f. The Chairperson of the Committee is the member referred to in paragraph (e) 7. The Committee is NOT subject to the control or direction of the Minister. 8. A member of the Committee holds office for such a period (not exceeding 3 years) as is specified in the member’s instrument of appointment. 9. A member may resign from office, or may be removed from office by the Minister with the approval of the person or body that nominated the member for appointment. 10. The procedure for the calling of meetings of the Committee and for the conduct of business at those meetings is, subject to this section and the regulations, to be as determined by the Committee. 11. The quorum for a meeting of the Committee is 4 members. The Chairperson or other person presiding at a meeting of the Committee has a deliberative vote and, in the event of an equality of votes, has a second casting vote. A Decision supported by a majority of the votes cast at a meeting of the Committee at which a quorum is present is the decision of the committee.

This Scientific Committee should have come into being at the same time as Snowy-Hydro Corporation came in to being on the 28th June 2002.

One of the functions of such a Committee is to advice the NSW Water Administration Ministerial Corporation each year on the regime for the release of water for environmental purposes under the Snowy Water Licence.

This Licence has been in operation for three years and we only have two years to go to the five year review. The NSW Water Administration Ministerial Corporation have not had any advice from the non-existent Snowy Scientific Committee, in fact the Snowy Water Licence cannot be properly applied without the advice from the non-existent Snowy Scientific committee because Section 57 of the snowy Hydro Corporatisation Act No. 99 of 1997 has not been fulfilled according to Law.

This must call into question all operations being applied by the Snowy Hydro Corporation over the past three years and three months since Corporatisation.

Of particular concern to us is the recommissioning of the Mowamba Aqueduct and the taking back of all but .45 megalitres of the Moonbah river flow. The flow in the four kilometers of the Moonbah River (now a piddling little creek) has been measured at this volume by the guage at the aqueduct.

Fortunately Snowy Hydro did not turn off the flow over the Mowamba Weir until after the siphon pipe at Jindabybne Dam was broken during the construction works currently under way. As a result of this siphon pipe failure the Snowy River almost stopped flowing, the only other Water flow was that coming from the Moonbah River.

No warning of the broken siphon pipe was given to the Snowy River Shire Council or the residents below the Jindabyne Dam Wall section of the River. The Dalgety town water supply pumping and filtration system failed when the river level dropped to below the intake pipe, and left it sucking air instead of water – not good for this type of equipment. The first warning the Shires’Engineering Dept. had of this problem was when the alarms at the pumping station registered a failure. Shire Officers responded immediately and organized more than thirty truckloads of water carted from Berridale to support the Dalgety village’s health and water requirements. This failure of the siphon pipe occurred between the 4th and 14th of January 2006 and is indicated in the flow chart attached to this letter (see attached).

On the 30th January 2006, subsequent to this incident, Snowy Hydro recommissioned the Mowamba aqueduct and diverted the Moonbah River flow into Jindabyne Dam, leaving the four kilometer stretch below weir with a trickle which has diminished to .45 megalitres a day. As a result of this diversion, fish below the weir have died, and property owners lost a major part of their natural flow. These property owners were given notice of the changes to their river only a couple of days prior to the recommissioning (see copy of notice attached).

It would appear that Snowy Hydro decided on this action by their interpretation of the Snowy Water Licence, possibly Section 61, “Snowy River increased flows”, which states- Section 1.1(61) SNOWY RIVER INCREASED FLOWS- means releases of water in addition to the Base Passing Flow that: a) The licensee releases from the Jindabyne Dam into the Snowy River: and/or b) The Licensee releases from either or both the Moonbah (Mowamba) River and Cobbon Creek aqueducts into the Snowy River. c) Or Section 7. LICENSEE’S WATER RIGHTS:

7.1 Subject to the provisions of this Licence, the Ministerial Corporation confers on the Licensee: 1) the right to collect all water from the rivers, streams and lakes within the Snowy Water Catchment 2) the right to divert that water 3) the right to store that water 4) the right to use that water to generate electricity and for purposes that are incidental or related to the generation of electricity or to the management of that water in the works; and 5) the right to release water from storage.

Section 7 may have been the section from which Snowy Hydro Corporation have acted to recommission the Mowamba aqueduct- however, all of these rights have to comply with the direction from the Water Administerial Corporation acting on advice from the, as yet, non- existent “Snowy Scientific Committee”.

Whichever section of the Snowy Water Licence, issued on May 30th 2002, 29 days before Snowy Hydro Corp Ltd came into being, the fact is that without the existence of the Snowy Scientific Committee (Section 57 of the Snowy Corporatisation Act No 99), the NSW Snowy Water Licence cannot be operated according to the Act. This means that for three years and three months the Governments, the Water Ministerial Corporation and Snowy Hydro have been operating outside the Law, and still are.

. The Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Act 1997 No 99 binds the Crown to form the Snowy Scientific Committee. Where is it? . The NSW Government is in breach of this Act. . The Victorian Government is in breach of their joint Snowy Corp. Act 1997 No 105 . The Commonwealth Government is in breach of their Snowy Hydro Corp Act Version 001, No 105 1997. . All are in breach of the Joint Government Agreement.

“Heads of Agreement – Agreed outcome of the Snowy Water Enquiry”6 December 2000. This Heads of Agreement fails to give any reference to the pivotal management advice of the Snowy Scientific Committee of the NSW Statute Section 57. Why is this so? Sections 6/11, 6/12 and 6/13 of the Heads of Agreement are dependent on the advice from the Snowy Scientific Committee, as yet still unformed.

All three governments are complicit in the failure to establish the “Snowy Scientific Committee” and all must come forward to correct this gross mismanagement of our resources and explain to all Australians why they are agreeing with the proposed sell off of Snowy Hydro Corporation and how they can even contemplate the sale with this evidence of a miserable management debacle hanging over their heads.

All three governments must listen to the people who gave them their jobs and pay them rather handsomely. All Australians condemn such high-handedness and an injunction must be brought against the NSW Government’s proposed sell off of our resources and the rape of our river systems, in particular the Snowy and Murray-Murrumbidgee.

POSTSCRIPT: A promise has recently been made by Mr. John Della Bosca to have this committee established, but there are questions to be asked regarding the longevity of such a committee formed in these circumstances, and its capacity to act, once, and if privatisation occurs. Such a Committee if formed within the Act, would be able to safeguard the provisions of the Act regarding proper water management and distribution of water as promised by the Act, and be independent of Snowy Hydro and private owners, thus ensuring security of water for irrigators and those living along the Snowy River. It is therefore, requested that any decision to privatise Snowy Hydro, be held over until the Committee is duly formed and has a chance to conduct the necessary research and make an unbiased report on the state of the rivers and recommend action to be taken to ensure their continuing health.

Angel John Gallard