Water is life in the NT, but a new Bill that has been quietly tabled in the NT Parliament could put our incredible free-flowing rivers and springs at risk.
The Environment and Water Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 has been introduced to Parliament and proposes sweeping and unacceptable changes to seven pieces of key legislation that protect the Northern Territory's environment, heritage, water and air quality.
It is a wrecking ball of a bill - setting the scene for a massive water grab for industry at the expense of communities and the environment.
With a range of data centre, fracking, and cotton projects on the horizon, the Bill puts in jeopardy the capacity of our environment laws to safeguard against unsustainable levels of water extraction.
What does the Bill propose to do?
We know that our ancient aquifers and the ecosystems that rely upon them are under increasing pressure. The Bill scraps the legal requirement in the Water Act to allocate water to the environment. This means that water allocation plans will no longer be legally required to set aside water to protect rivers, springs, wetlands and other water-dependent ecosystems. This is inconsistent with the NT's commitment in the National Water Initiative in 2004 to ensure that water is set aside to protect, preserve and restore surface water and groundwater-dependent ecosystems.
In addition, the Bill removes the requirement that management of water resources complies with a declared Water Allocation Plan.
This is the very opposite of good governance: it's a water free-for-all that puts our environment last.
But that's not all.
The Bill will also make changes to the Environment Protection Act that will allow mining security bonds, intended to ensure taxpayers don’t foot the bill for clean-up and rehabilitation of mining sites, to be refunded where the Minister is satisfied “special circumstances” exist.
Changes to the Waste Management and Pollution Control Act mean that facility licenses - including licenses for facilities like the Darwin and Ichthys LNG plants - will no longer need to have an expiry date, and may be in force until surrendered or cancelled. This reduces the ability of regulators to regularly review the adequacy of licensing arrangements.
Despite the impact of these changes, this Bill has not even been referred to the Legislative Scrutiny Committee for greater consideration.
Sign the petition to demand this destructive Bill be withdrawn:
To the Speaker and the Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory,
We the undersigned are opposed to the Environment and Water Legislation Amendment Bill 2026.
In particular we are deeply concerned about proposed amendments to the Water Act that remove the requirements that Water Allocation Plans include an allocation to the environment, and that that water resource management conforms with Water Allocation Plans.
This will put our water resources and the ecosystems they support at risk.
In addition, proposed changes to the Environment Protection Act, Waste Management and Pollution Control Act, Heritage Act threaten to compromise good governance and transparency.
We ask the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory to recommend the immediate withdrawal of the Bill and commit to referring any subsequent amendments to environment and heritage legislation to the Legislative Scrutiny Committee for robust and transparent scrutiny.