Griffith mayor Doug Curran said he was happy for Sussan Ley after she retained her spot as Farrer Member, but said a new Labor government would present challenges for the community.

"We're happy Sussan's been able to remain in power, but her party wasn't quite so fortunate," Mr Curran said.

"We've now got a new landscape to deal with."

Mr Curran said not having the federal member in power could make things more difficult for Griffith, and that local government will need to work harder to push Griffith's message and community concerns to the new federal government.

"I hope the presiding government sees the benefit Griffith brings to the state and national economy and continues to support us," Mr Curran said.

"We've been quite lucky so far but we've got some big challenges in front of us, like housing and Lake Wyangan."

Mr Curran also said that prior to the election the Griffith City Council met with Farrer's Labor candidate Darren Cameron to discuss the region's biggest issues.

"He took those on board, and hopefully he relays those through the party," Mr Curran added.

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Griffith Business Chamber president Paul Pierotti was optimistic about the incoming government, but said a lot still needed to be done regarding the environment and water usage.

"The biggest issue we face in our region is water and we are very uncertain where that lands now," Mr Pierotti said.

He also said he wants the new Environment Minister to be more balanced and understanding of issues in the southern basin, particularly those concerning the impacts of northern basin floodplain harvesting.

"We believe the new state government water sharing plan is completely improper," Mr Pierotti said.

"We're hoping for a far more sensible plan that is considerate to the southern basin communities, the environment, and our economies."

The Business Chamber president also said Sussan Ley hadn't done enough to address water issues as the previous Environment Minister.

"Sussan Ley obviously did very little, if anything, regarding this northern basin water issue," he said.

"As Environment Minister you'd imagine it would be the highest of priorities to ensure there's metered, monitored and measured licensed users of water across the entire basin.

"The burden should never be on those communities in the southern basin which are already the most scrutinised."

"We hope the federal government now does the right thing," he added.

With the Bush Summit set to take place in Griffith in August, Mr Curran said this would be the perfect time to push local issues to the visiting Prime Minister and NSW Premier.

"This will give us the opportunity to try and get action on some of those important topics in Griffith and the wider Riverina area," he said.

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