People living along the major rivers on the NSW Far North Coast, particularly those on the Clarence River, will remember that it was irrigators in southern Queensland as well as other areas within the Murray-Darling Basin who made repeated calls to dam and divert one of more of these coastal rivers to fill heir greedy maws with additional water.
The
Courier Mail,
25 January 2019, p.27:
Authorities have gone to
court to force an award-winning Queensland cotton farmer to pay $16 million to
the state’s Public Trustee after a “covert source” told them the accused
water fraudster had sold his farm for more than $100 million.
John Douglas Norman, 43,
a former Australian Cotton Farmer Of The Year, from Toobeah in southern
Queensland, has been charged with defrauding the Murray-Darling Basin water program
of $20 million.
The charges are before
the Brisbane Magistrates Court.
Last week the State
Government was granted an urgent court order, forcing Norman to pay $15.7
million to the state’s Public Trustee, after the police received a tip that his
company had sold its Queensland cotton and grain farms to a global corporate
giant.
Norman must pay the
$15.7 million once his deal with the $43 billion Canadian giant Manulife
Financial Corporation settles, a Supreme Court judge has ruled. The order was
made under the Criminal Proceeds Confiscation Act.
The mega-deal was due to
settle last week, court documents state. Until the $15.7 million is paid,
Norman’s share of the giant farms, west of Goondiwindi, will remain frozen by
the Supreme Court.
The remaining share of
the business is owned by his mother Aileen Joan Norman. She has not been
charged with any crimes and has not had her assets frozen.
The farms, spread over
18,000ha, are mostly irrigated and run along or close to the NSW-Queensland
border, the court heard. They are in “a core crop production region” and with
“significant water entitlements”.
The farms and a $2
million riverfront Southport mansion, owned by Norman’s wife Virginia, were
raided and searched by police during the probe, court documents state.
BACKGROUND
The Land, 30 August 2018:
Meanwhile in Queensland,
a major alleged fraud in the cotton industry was uncovered by police, with two
executives from Queensland's cotton group Norman Farming charged over an an
alleged $20 million fraud involving federal funds earmarked for Murray-Darling
water savings.
Norman Farming CEO John Norman,
43, and his chief financial officer Steve Evans, 53, were granted bail after
appearing in Brisbane Magistrates Court over the alleged fraud.
Police allege the
director of the company submitted fraudulent claims, including falsified
invoices related to six water-efficiency projects on a property near
Goondiwindi, called Healthy Headwater projects.
Police allege the fraud
occurred over seven years.
In NSW, the Natural
Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) has issued a number of charges in the north
and south-west of NSW for various alleged water offences.
The NRAR is the new
independent water regulator in NSW. It started operations on April 30, after an
outcry over alleged water deals in northern NSW exposed by the ABC's Four
Corners program….
NRAR said it was
pursuing the following cases:
● A Moree company has
been charged with water theft offences. It is alleged the company, involved in
irrigation, took water from a river while metering equipment was not working,
an offence against section 91I(2) of the Water Management Act 2000. It is
further alleged they constructed and used a channel to convey water without
approval.
● A Carinda man has been
charged with using a channel to convey water without approval, an offence
against s91B of the Water Management Act 2000.
● Two men have been
charged with water theft offences on properties in Walgett and Mallowa.
● A 35-year-old man from
Carinda in Northern NSW alleged he provided false and misleading information to
water investigators.
● Two men have been
charged after they allegedly carried out controlled activities on the Murray
River near Corowa.
ABC News, 13 February 2018:
The Murray Darling Basin
Authority (MDBA) is powerless to prevent upstream farmers harvesting overland
floodwaters desperately needed to flow through the river system for the benefit
of all users, the authority's head has admitted.
It comes as details
emerge of massive earthworks built to enable upstream farmers to carry out
"floodplain harvesting"…..
Last week, MDBA head
Phillip Glyde travelled to Mr Lamey's farm to see first hand what was
happening.
"I've learnt a
lot," Mr Glyde told 7.30.
"For people like
the Lameys, it's very hard to negotiate through and find what's the best way to
make sure the problems they're experiencing don't occur."
Although he admitted
floodplain harvesting was a serious issue, he acknowledged there was nothing
the authority could do in relation to the approval and regulation of irrigation
earthworks.
"There's
overlapping responsibilities: local, state, different departments," he
said.
"Then you've got
the Commonwealth, then you've got the Murray Darling Basin Plan."
On Wednesday, the Senate
decides whether to pass a proposed reduction in the amount of water Queensland
irrigators give back to the ailing Murray Darling River system.
"We don't want the
irrigators to be keeping even more water, we want the banks pulled down in
Queensland," Mr Lamey said.
"We want the river
to run like it should."
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