‘We don’t hear the frogs, we don’t see the birds’: government repeatedly delayed water to NSW wetlands, documents reveal

‘Mallowa environmental water has, for years, been treated as something to fit around farming activity rather than something delivered according to ecological need’ … Jonathon Guyer, a grazier who lives in Bullarah, NSW. Photograph: Jasmin Morrison/The Guardian

The New South Wales government has routinely delayed environmental flows to critical wetlands in the state’s north-west in favour of farming, despite admitting it could harm the breeding cycles of frogs and endangered birds and damage local ecosystems.

Two weeks ago, scientists had to scramble to rescue turtles after WaterNSW abruptly cut water flows to the internationally significant Gwydir region near Moree, after a complaint from a landowner.