Indigenous compliance officers join NRAR in latest recruitment blitz

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander officers make up a quarter (25%) of new recruits for the Natural Resources Access Regulator’s (NRAR) routine monitoring team.

NRAR’s Director Water Regulation West Gregory Abood said the regulator prioritised diversity in its latest recruitment drive, which has seen 28 monitoring officers join teams in Dubbo, Tamworth and Deniliquin.

“Our new routine monitoring team will become the face of NRAR in regional NSW and so it was incredibly important for them to be as diverse as the community they work for,” said Mr Abood.

“We’re proud to see the NRAR team expand to include new Field Officers from all walks of life. While some candidates are entering the workforce for the first time, others have quite a few years’ experience under their belts. It’s an eclectic group of people which is a great advantage.

“Among the recruits are a Wiradjuri woman with a Diploma in Conservation and Land Management, a landscape painter, a former Environmental Protection Officer and a recent migrant from India.”

The 28 new officers completed three weeks of intensive training earlier in the month and are now authorised officers under the Water Management Act 2000. They will visit properties en masse across the Murray Darling Basin, to ensure water laws are front of mind and enabling water users to understand and comply with those laws.

Mr Abood said that since its inception two and a half years ago, NRAR has used many methods to determine compliance with NSW water laws. These include property inspections and using in new technologies like drones and satellite imagery.

“Now that the regulator has expanded its on-the-ground presence in regional NSW we will be able to visit three times as many properties in the next 12 months than in the previous financial year. In doing so, we will increase public confidence in water regulation.”

All landholders will be contacted and given notice ahead of a visit, to give them the opportunity to check that their water activities are compliant with their individual conditions.

NRAR officers follow all NSW Health COVID-19 guidelines when making site visits.

For more information about NRAR and what it does, visit: nrar.nsw.gov.au