MEMBER for Mildura Ali Cupper has stepped into the fight over floodplain harvesting rules in NSW, saying floodplain harvesters “must be held to account”.
Ms Cupper will outline floodplain harvesting rules she says should be “established as a matter of urgency” in a submission to the New South Wales Legislative Council’s Select Committee on Floodplain Harvesting.
In a statement, Ms Cupper said she was concerned Canadian investors now owned 841 gigalitres, or more than one and a half Sydney Harbours, of water entitlements in the Murray-Darling Basin.
Close to half of entitlements owned by Canadian investment funds were held in the northern basin, on unregulated river systems, she said.
Ms Cupper said it was “deeply concerning” a lack of regulation in NSW meant these investors had the ability to harvest water from floodplains and use water beyond their listed entitlements.
“Law-abiding Victorian irrigators pay the consequences for over-extraction upstream and we need to be able to hold floodplain harvesters to account,” Ms Cupper said.
“Foreign water investors have no vested interests in the fate of our river system.
“Canadian investors alone hold more than 400,000 megalitres of water entitlements in a region where unconscionable water practices run rife.”
Ms Cupper said floodplain harvesting rules needed to be established as a matter of urgency.
“It’s bad enough when Australian entities engage in floodplain harvesting,” she said.
“But when foreign multinationals have the opportunity to floodplain harvest, it’s even worse.
“It’s a fair bet that they have even less interest in the long-term health of our river or the fairness of the system.
“To them, the Murray-Darling Basin is just a cash cow, half a world away from home.”
In June 2018, Canadian investors owned 212,000ML of Australian water allocations. Three years later, it’s close to four times that amount.
The committee’s inquiry is taking submissions until August 13 and will hold hearings in September.
