MEDIA RELEASE
2nd September 2025
The Federal Court today has ruled the NSW Fractured Rock Water Resource Plan (WRP) is invalid because Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek didn’t read it before she signed it off.
The court also found the MDBA acted lawfully in recommending to the Minister that the plan be accredited, even though consultation with First Nations fell far short of what First Nations required.
Brendan Kennedy, Chair of MLDRIN welcomed the decision to overturn the FRWRP but said the judgment highlighted the need for water law reform to better protect First Nations rights and interests.
“There needs to be immediate reform to enshrine First Nations’ rights in decision making,” Mr Kennedy said.
“This must happen now as we are heading towards the 2026 statutory review of the Basin Plan, and the 2027 Water Act Review.
“If First Nations are going to play a meaningful role in either of these government- led reviews, then they need to be more than the current style of large town-hall, tick-the-box exercises, which diminish the rights of First Nations.
“Decision makers who played a part in the making of this FRWRP have treated First Nations peoples disrespectfully and sometimes unlawfully.
“Sadly, this has been an all-too-common experience for First Nations peoples in the water space dealing with governments since Colonisation began.
“It is another example of water dispossession that has been ongoing for generations.”
Grant Rigney, Deputy Chair of MLDRIN said: “MLDRIN maintains that the WRP is not consistent with the Basin Plan requirements and that Minister Watt should not accredit the WRP in its current form.
“We made this clear in our submissions to the former minister, but our recommendations
were ignored.
“We call on Minister Watt to read MLDRIN’s detailed, critical assessment of the plan which finds the WRP is not consistent with the Basin Plan.
“We invite the Minister to meet with MLDRIN to hear our concerns,”
Mr Rigney said MLDRIN also welcomed the court’s ruling on keeping cultural knowledge submitted to the court confidential.
“This was a good day, as First Nations have been respected by the court system.
“While the MDBA did not support MLDRIN’s application to protect cultural knowledge, the court has made the right decision.
“This decision sets an important legal precedent protecting First Nations’ cultural knowledge, which is their Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property (ICIP), from being publicly divulged through court processes.
“Importantly, the judge found that confidentiality orders applying to this material should apply forever. This is a very significant ruling.”
The judge found: “the present case is analogous to cases of commercial-in-confidence and personal information. There is no reason why the Court should treat cultural knowledge as less deserving … there is a very high public value placed in the maintenance of the confidentiality of such information.”
The judge also found: “…the information has been passed on over generations and will continue to be passed on to future generations. For that reason, there is no fixed, ascertainable or specified future event with respect to which the order can cease to operate.”
MLDRIN was represented in this matter by the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO), the Australia-Pacific region’s largest Community Legal Centre specialising in public interest environmental law.
EDO Special Counsel Emily Long said: “EDO supports MLDRIN’s commitment to urgent reform of the Basin Plan and Water Act.
“The law must embed the rights protected under the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, including the right to free, prior and informed consent.
“First Nations must be able to exercise their collective right to participate in decisions that affect their lives and their Country, as part of their right to self-determination.”
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Photo Credit: Cassandra Hannagan – single use only, for this story (contact photographer for any other use).
