~.\ .1,t1 Premier NSW--- GOVERNMENT & Cabinet Ref: A3816330 Mr David Blunt Clerk of the Parliaments Legislative Council Parliament House Macquarie Street SYDNEY NSW 2000 Dear Mr Blunt Order for Papers - Lower Hunter Water Plan I refer to the above resolution of the Legislative Council under Standing Order 52 made on 26 August 2020 and your correspondence of 27 August 2020. I am now delivering to you documents referred to in that resolution. The documents have been obtained from the: Office of the Minister for Water, Property and Housing Department of Planning, Industry and Environment WaterNSW Hunter Water Corporation. Enclosed at Annexure 1 are certification letters from the following officers certifying that (subject to the paragraph below in relation to Hunter Water Corporation) to the best of their knowledge, all documents held and covered by the terms of the resolution and lawfully required to be provided have been provided or that no documents are held: • Chief of Staff of the Office of the Minister for Water, Property and Housing • Secretary, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment NChief Executive Officer, Water NSW Managing Director, Hunter Water Corporation. The letter from the Managing Director of the Hunter Water Corporation advises that the Hunter Water Corporation has not been able to produce all documents within the relevant timeframe due to the broad scope of the resolution and the significant volume of documents potentially caught by its terms. The Hunter Water Corporation has produced documents in response to paragraphs (a) and (g) of the resolution and notes it will continue as a priority to prepare the remaining documents. I am advised that the Hunter Water Corporation will not be able to produce the documents to DPC until 12 October 2020. Enclosed at Annexure 2 are indexes of all the non-privileged documents that have been provided in response to the resolution. 52 Martin Place, Sydney NSW 2000 • GPO Box 5341, SYDNEY NSW 2001 Tel: (02) 9228 5555 • www.dpc.nsw.qov.au In accordance with Item 5(a) of Standing Order 52, those documents for which a claim for privilege has been made have been separately indexed and the case for privilege has been noted. Enclosed at Annexure 3 are indexes of all privileged documents and submissions in support of the case for privilege. I note that submissions in support of a claim of privilege may sometimes reveal information that is privileged. To the extent that they do, such submissions should be considered to be subject to the same confidentiality as the documents over which the privilege claim is made. Should you require any clarification or further assistance, please contact Ms Kate Boyd, General Counsel, on telephone (02) 9228 4393. Yours sincerely If bau< Jl'l'w kt,/ r !J Tim Reardon Secretary 23 September 2020 ~ riRrt -~r,ly&I #t' 114 rtta}vd ;/ 1'·fl1~ l,Jek,+ 2. 3 sr '(c'"'J w jf) 2£) M 17 September 2020 Mr Matt Richards NExecutive Director, Legal Branch Department of Premier and Cabinet Level 14, 52 Mm1in Place SYDNEY NSW 2000 Dear Mr Richards Order for Papers - Standing Order 52 - Lower Hunter Water Plan I ce1iify to the best ofmy knowledge that all documents held by the Office of the Hon Melinda Pavey MP that are covered by the terms of the resolution and are lawfully required to be provided have been provided. Kind regards Douglas Walther Chief of Staff to the Hon Melinda Pavey MP Minister for Water, Property and Housing ,r,11 .j~ Planning, NSW Industry & GOVERNMENT Environment Office of the Secretary IRF20/4225 Your ref: A3785905 Mr Matt Richards A/Executive Director, Legal Office of General Counsel Department of Premier and Cabinet Level 14, 52 Martin Place SYDNEY NSW 2000 Dear Mr Richards I refer to your correspondence dated 27 August 2020, concerning an order for papers under Standing Order 52, which was passed by the Legislative Council on 26 August 2020 regarding Lower Hunter Water Plan. The Department has conducted the necessary .searches and provided with this letter enclosed at Annexure 1 is an index of all the non-privileged documents that have been provided in response to the resolution. To reduce duplication, the Department has not produced copies of other documents held by the Department where those · documents are being provided by another agency named in the Order. Under item 5(a) of Standing Order 52, those documents for which a claim for privilege has been made have been separately indexed and the case for privilege has been noted. Enclosed at Annexure 2 is an index of all privileged documents and submissions in support of the case for privilege. I certify to the best of my knowledge that all documents held by the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment that are covered by the terms of the order and lawfully required to be provided have been provided. If you have any more questions, please contact Marty Jones, Manager Standing Order 52s on 02 8229 2911. Jim Betts Secretary 15/9/2020 Encl. 1. Index of non-privileged documents 2. Index of documents over which privilege is claimed Submission in support of a claim for privilege 4 Parramatta Square, 12 Darcy Street, Parramatta NSW 2150 I Locked Bag 5022 Parramatta NSW 21241 planning.nsw.gov.au WaterNSW ~>,)' ' 21 September 2020 Mr Matt Richards N Executive Director, Legal Office of General Counsel Department of Premier and Cabinet Level 14, 52 Martin Place SYDNEY NSW 2000 Dear Mr Richards ORDER FOR PAPERS • 26 AUGUST 2020 • LOWER HUNTER PLAN I certify, to the best of my knowledge, that all documents held by WaterNSW that are covered by the terms of the resolution and are lawfully required to be provided have been provided. Additional documents that are covered by the terms of the resolution may be produced by Hunter Water Corporation, on behalf of WaterNSW, in due course. Yours sincerely Andrew George N Chief Executive Officer Hunter Water Corporation PO Box 5171 ABN 46 228 513 446 HRMC NSW 2310 36 Honeysuckle Drive NEWCASTLE NSW 2300 1300 657 657 (T) [email protected] hunterwater.com.au 21 September 2020 Our Ref: HW2020-1050 Mr Matt Richards A/Executive Director, Legal Office of General Counsel Department of Premier and Cabinet Level 14, 52 Martin Place SYDNEY NSW 2000 Dear Mr Richards STANDING ORDER 52 - ORDER FOR PAPERS - LOWER HUNTER WATER PLAN I refer to your letter dated 1 September regarding a resolution of the Legislative Council (Resolution) dated 26 August 2020 in relation to the Lower Hunter Water Plan (Plan). Scope of the Resolution and the production task The Resolution calls for documents relating to a wide range of aspects of the development of the Plan as well as certain other documents, over a period of more than 3Y. years. This encompasses an extensive process to develop a long term, complex, regional water security program, incorporating the consideration of a variety of potential projects, and that process involves several Hunter Water business units. Consequently, in order to identify the documents held by Hunter Water which fall within the scope of the Resolution, it has been necessary to obtain data from well in excess of 40 mailboxes, and various internal databases, over a period of 3Y. years. This has presented a significant amount of data. Hunter Water's current best estimates are that in excess of 30 million data files need to be processed. While it is true that there are some documents which comprise multiple files, it is nevertheless the case that the number of documents that need to be processed in order to locate potentially in scope documents is well in excess of 15 million. In order to be processed, the data must be: 1. stored in one place and processed by sophisticated software programs that will enable it to be interrogated, through keyword searches and other processes; 2. searched for relevance; 3. reviewed for privilege; 4. indexed; and 5. printed and collated for production. The steps involved in (1) and (2) above for a data set comprising 30 million plus files require significant data processing capacity. The capture and processing of the data has also been made significantly more challenging by the ongoing pandemic in circumstances where remote working arrangements have made access to documentation more difficult. Hunter Water has currently completed the task in (1) for approximately 65 per cent of the files which may be responsive to the Resolution. Hunter Water has completed the task in (2) for approximately 40 per cent of the files which may be responsive to the Resolution. Hunter Water is, of course, seeking to carry out these tasks as quickly as possible, and has applied efficiencies which have enabled some of the steps in (3), (4) and (5) to be carried out while other documents are being processed. However, Hunter Water is not currently in a position to produce documents responsive to paragraphs (b), (c), (d), (e), (f) and (h) of the Resolution. I apologise to the House for the delay. Production of documents under paragraphs (a) and (g) In these circumstances, Hunter Water has been able to interrogate its own files directly in order to locate documents which fall within the scope of paragraphs (a) and (g) of the Resolution. Those documents are produced with this letter, together with indexes and a submission supporting claims for privilege. Certification __ I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, and based on the searches undertaken to date, all documents held by Hunter Water which fall within the scope of paragraphs (a) and (g) of the Resolution and are lawfully required to be provided have been provided. Remaining paragraphs However, Hunter Water will not be in a position to produce documents which fall within the scope of paragraphs (b)-(f) and (h) of the Resolution to the Department by 21 September 2020.