Stop the Pollution Loophole: reinstate real protection for Sydney’s drinking water
Sign the Gardens of Stone Alliance petition calling for NSW Labor to honour its promise to Protect Sydney’s drinking water.
The quality of Sydney’s drinking water—which supplies over 5 million people—is under imminent threat due to weak environmental planning laws that allows major polluters, including mining operations, to discharge contaminated water into the Sydney Drinking Water Catchment.
The Neutral or Beneficial Effect (NorBE) test, first introduced by the Labor government in 1998 in response to a contamination crisis, is meant to protect our water.
Pollution loopholes
In 2017 4nature won a court case to make coal mine polluters clean up their act. In response the previous government created a pollution loophole by severely weakening the NorBE test. Polluters can now legally continue their contamination without being required to treat water to a truly ‘neutral or beneficial’ standard.
In a further loophole being exploited by the mining and fossil-fuel industry, changes to their operations don’t even require the weakened NorBe test to be adhered to.
Since the law was weakened, mine operator Centennial Coal and power station operator, Energy Australia, have been discharging polluted mine wastewater directly into Sydney’s drinking water. This continues today despite their commitment to end this practice with the construction of a water treatment plant. It is currently cheaper to keep polluting than to fully treat the toxic mine water.
Gardens of Stone Alliance members
- Blue Mountains Conservation Society
- Lithgow Environment Group
- Nature Conservation Council of NSW
- Wilderness Australia
- 4nature
- Bushwalking NSW
- National Parks Association of NSW
Labor’s promise
When in opposition, the NSW Labor Party, including Premier Chris Minns and Environment Minister Penny Sharpe, were clear and vocal in their condemnation of these weakened laws when they opposed them in Parliament.
They made an explicit commitment that a future Labor Government would ‘reinstate the proper protections for the Sydney Water Catchment’ if their amendments failed. See ‘Labor’s promise in their own words’ under Key Information below (click on the ‘+’).
The time to honour that promise is now!
The Gardens of Stone Alliance urges you to call on Premier Chris Minns and the NSW Government to take immediate action to close this dangerous loophole and restore the highest level of protection for our drinking water.
Key Information
Labor’s promise in their own words (NSW Parliament Hansard extracts, 10-11 October 2017)
Current NSW Labor Ministers clearly articulated the dangers of weakening the NorBE test at the time the law was changed in 2017 and made a firm commitment in Parliament to restore these protections:
| Role in 2025 | Role in 2017 | Their promise in 2017 |
| The Hon Chris Minns MP, Premier | Shadow Minister for Water | ‘The Minister for Planning would have us believe that it would be necessary to reduce water standards for all of New South Wales… It is a dangerous precedent.’ ‘Unfortunately, we could be in a situation where future operators will be held to this lower test.’ |
| The Hon Penny Sharpe MLC, Minister for the Environment | Shadow Minister for Trade/Environment | ‘The Springvale mine has repeatedly been found by the EPA to be in breach of its licence for exceeding limits on arsenic discharged… What the Government is doing is trying to water down protections for the water catchment…Labor does not support this…a future Labor government will reinstate the proper protections for the Sydney Water Catchment.’ |
| The Hon Michael Daley MP, Attorney General | Deputy Leader of the Opposition | ‘The drinking water of people living in the Sydney water catchment deserves to be treated with significantly more respect than has been shown by those opposite.’ |
| Luke Foley (no longer in parliament) | Leader of the Opposition | ‘I put on the record that if this legislation is passed by the House…the next Labor Government will amend the legislation to restore the proper protections.’ |
| Ryan Park, Minister for Health | Shadow Treasurer | ‘But we do not believe that [the operation of the power station] should come at the expense of Sydney’s drinking water supply or by putting at risk or reducing the protection of Sydney’s drinking water supplyin future.’ |
About the NorBE test
The Neutral or Beneficial Effect (NorBE) test for proposed developments in the Sydney Drinking Water Catchment was first introduced in 1998, following the Sydney drinking water crisis.
Key dates:
- 1998. The requirement to have a ‘neutral or positive impact on water quality’ was first established by the Sydney Water Catchment Management Act, 1998. This Act was put in place by the Labor government as part of recommendations of the McClellan Inquiry into the 1998 Sydney water contamination crisis.
- 2007. The NorBE test was formally codified in the planning framework on the Sydney Regional Environmental Plan No 20—Hawkesbury-Nepean River, which came into force in January 2007.
- 2011. The NorBE test was incorporated into the State Environmental Planning Policy (Sydney Drinking Water Catchment), in March 2011.
- 2017. The Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Sydney Drinking Water Catchment) Act 2017 introduced by the Liberal National government, weakened the application of the NorBE test for ‘continuing development’ like mine extensions, a needless response to the court case by 4nature. During the parliamentary debate, Labor promised to reverse the changes if it was returned to government.
- 2023. Labor was elected to government. The NorBE test has not been reinstated.
Recent Petition Signings
The Petition: Join the Gardens of Stone Alliance demands to the NSW Government
To: Hon Chris Minns, Premier of NSW
We call on the NSW Government to immediately amend the State Environmental Planning Policy (Sydney Drinking Water Catchment) 2011 to reinstate the full integrity of the Neutral or Beneficial Effect (NorBE) test and honour the party’s commitment to protect the Sydney Water Catchment.
Specifically, we demand that your government implements the following changes:
- Uphold the original commitment: Deliver on the repeated Labor commitment to ‘reinstate the proper protections for the Sydney Drinking Water Catchment’ by returning the NorBE test to its original purpose of ensuring that all development enhances, or at least does not degrade, our vital water supply.
- Reinstate a clean baseline: Amend the NorBE test to ensure it is applied against a clean, unpolluted water quality standard for the entire catchment, instead of allowing a degraded ‘baseline’ that already reflects existing contamination.
- Close the mining exemption loophole: Explicitly revoke any legislative clauses that allow modifications or extensions to existing developments, particularly in mining, to proceed without the full and stringent application of the NorBE test.
- Mandate pollution treatment: Enforce a new requirement that all current projects proven to discharge pollutants (like heavy metals and arsenic) into the water catchment are immediately compelled to implement best-practice water treatment technology to achieve a genuinely ‘beneficial effect’ on water quality.
Protect our Water. Honour Your Promise.
Recent Petition Signings
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Sign our petition calling for NSW Labor to honour its promise to Protect Sydney’s drinking water.