142   Petition

(1)  Any persons who are landholders of lands that are being worked as 3 or more holdings may lodge with the Minister a petition for the constitution of those lands:

(a)  as a private water supply district, or

(b)  as a private water supply and irrigation district.

(2)  The petition:

(a)  must contain the names, addresses and occupations of all of the petitioners and be signed by all of the petitioners, and

(b)  must be accompanied by plans showing:

(i)  the location of the lands proposed to be supplied with water, in relation to the river, estuary or lake from which water is proposed to be obtained, and

(ii)  the lands on which a water supply work is proposed to be constructed or located in connection with the proposed water supply, and the site on those lands of that proposed water supply work, and

(c)  must be accompanied by:

(i)  particulars of the title of the lands within the proposed private irrigation district, and

(ii)  particulars of the area of land within the proposed private irrigation district owned by each petitioner, and

(iii)  an estimate of the quantity of water proposed to be taken annually for the purposes of the proposed private irrigation district, and

(iv)  particulars of any water use approval under which any lands within the proposed private irrigation district are, at the date of lodgment of the petition, authorised to be irrigated, and

(d)  must contain the names, addresses and occupations of the landholders of the lands referred to in paragraph (b) (ii) and be accompanied by separate particulars of the title of those lands.

(3)  The Minister may cause a notice containing particulars of the petition to be published in the Gazette and in an appropriate newspaper.

(4)  Such a notice may not be published unless:

(a)  the Minister is satisfied that the establishment of a private irrigation district in accordance with the petition would be of benefit to the landholders of land within the proposed private irrigation district, and

(b)  the Minister has had regard to the Competition Principles Agreement, and

(c)  the Premier has concurred in the publication of the notice.

(5)  In this section, Competition Principles Agreement means the agreement of that name between the Commonwealth, the States and the Territories that was entered into, for and on behalf of New South Wales, on 11 April 1995.