Irrigator Anthony Barlow is fined well below the maximum for pumping water from the Barwon River during an extreme water shortage in Broken Hill.
A northern NSW cotton farmer charged over water theft after an ABC Four Corners report has been fined $190,000 by the Land and Environment Court.
The fine is well below the $742,500 maximum that could have been imposed on Anthony Barlow, who owns the 3,500-hectare Burren Downs, a farm which borders the Barwon River at Mungindi.for two days, during an embargo that was imposed from February to June in 2015 because of a severe water shortage in Broken Hill.
He gave evidence that at a meeting of water users on March 25, 2015, he was told personally by then water minister Kevin Humphries that the ban had been lifted. In his reasons, Judge Brian Preston found that after the minister arrived at the meeting he reiterated that"there is currently no embargo on the Barwon-Darling".
An employee of the Office of Water, who was at the meeting, also made a file note that the minister replied to a water user's question with:"You're not listening … there's no embargo."
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