The MDBA has told the NSW Government to revise almost all of its 20 water resource plans (WRP). 

The detailed plans did not pass muster with the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA), which criticised it for failing to include input from Indigenous groups.

WRPs are a central building block in the overall Murray-Darling Basin plan, and were originally due in February 2019. 

They allocate rights to water, licensing regimes, rules for agricultural extraction of water, protections of water for the environment and Indigenous rights to cultural water.

All states other than NSW have had their plans accredited. New South Wales had the largest number of plans to produce, and has been lagging.

In April, reports said up to 19 of NSW’s 20 water resource plans may have to be resubmitted. It is unclear what caused the plans to be rejected is unclear.

NSW water minister Melinda Pavey said it was just a matter of “formatting errors and typos”. 

She said that other states had been required to make changes to their plans too. 

One of the big issues appears to be that NSW has fallen short in their consultation with First Nations representatives.

Two peak Indigenous bodies, Northern Basin Aboriginal Nations (NBAN) and the Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations (MLDRIN), are meant to certify consultation with first nations’ people.