Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the Territory won’t write “a blank cheque” around access to its water. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
The ACT Government isn’t backing down: it wants the Parkwood development to become part of the ACT, which opponents have labelled a “dummy spit”.
Years of political debate have swirled around whether the NSW-ACT border should be moved to make Parkwood part of Canberra or left as part of Yass Valley.
Last month, a letter from Chief Minister Andrew Barr revealed that Canberra now believes that bringing Parkwood into the Territory will need to occur before any water-sharing arrangements with the Yass Valley Council can be signed off.
He said the Territory won’t write “a blank cheque” for access to its water, calling for Yass Valley Council to negotiate around Parkwood.
“They’ve been very clear in wanting to claim access rights to water from the ACT and giving nothing in return,” Mr Barr said on Tuesday (2 June).
He also sought to distance the Parkwood debate from Googong Dam, which is located in NSW and used by Canberra and Queanbeyan residents.
“There’s a historical arrangement with Queanbeyan-Palerang … There is no such arrangement with the Yass council.
“I just need to be clear to them: stop spending money on projects and feasibility studies and designs on the assumption you’re just going to get ACT water without there being some sort of trade-off.”
The Parkwood development can only be accessed by road through the ACT and is being designed to be an integrated community with ACT-style service delivery.
Mr Barr said it was Parkwood’s location that was driving his calls for it to become part of Canberra.
“It is not viable to have a situation where state-level services are provided by NSW into that parcel of land … It doesn’t make sense. It’s not going to work.”
He also claimed that Yass Valley Council had changed its position on who would control Parkwood.
In a December 2025 meeting, Yass Council voted to retain control of Parkwood.
Before the vote, a council spokesperson told Region that Yass Valley Council didn’t have a formal position on the matter.
At their May meeting, Yass councillors doubled down on their formal commitment to Parkwood.
During the discussion, Councillor Kristin Butler slammed Mr Barr’s push to take control of the development.
“It was pretty disgusting to see the behaviour of Andrew Barr in the letter. It just shows that the old boys’ club in politics is still alive and well, unfortunately.”
As part of their push, they will also invite Mr Minns and NSW Minister for Water, Rose Jackson, to visit Yass Valley to discuss cross-border planning (including water security).
Councillor Alvaro Charry said Yass Valley Council needed to seek support from the NSW Government, arguing that water should be treated as a separate issue.
“In my view, long-term regional water security is too important an issue for communities such as ours to be intertwined within broader jurisdictional negotiations.”
Yass Valley Business Chamber president Jack Walker hit out at the “appalling” letter from Mr Barr.
“The letter is effectively a dummy spit over the fact that Andrew Barr’s not getting his way,” he told Region.
He called for the council to investigate alternative water sources, particularly those that would leave Yass Valley with a “sovereign supply”.
Mr Walker also welcomed further economic development in Yass Valley and said keeping control of Parkwood will be key to the area’s financial sustainability.
“Yass Valley is a high-growth NSW region. It’s currently under pressure to strengthen its finances.
“Literally any transfer of Parkwood to the ACT without appropriate recognition or compensation would represent a permanent loss for future rates, revenue, economic activity and strategic growth capacity for Yass Valley and NSW.”
At a meeting in late 2026, Yass Council received a report from AEC Group outlining how a special rate variation (SRV) for Parkwood would strengthen the council’s finances.
“The bottom-up financial modelling indicates that it is more advantageous for YVC to retain the Parkwood development within the Yass Valley area, provided that YVC implements an appropriate SRV or equivalent differential rating strategy,” the document says.
At the time, Cr Charry described this potential SRV as “not an optional extra” for Parkwood.
Original Article published by Claire Sams on Region Canberra.
