Critics have labelled a $3.5 million water transparency panel a “delay tactic”.
The panel, announced in this week’s federal budget, is a response to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s water markets inquiry.
The panel will be tasked with assessing how transparency the water market in the Murray Darling Basin can be improved.
“We’ve just had a two-year multi-million dollar ACCC inquiry. We’ve had hundreds of inquiries, reports and panels looking into water management and water markets over the past decade,” Member for Murray Helen Dalton said.
“The fact that foreign companies and foreign governments can buy and trade our water in secret is a disgrace.”
“The Government could fix this immediately. Instead, they are setting up a panel.”
The ACCC Water Markets Inquiry recommended establishing a new independent Basin-wide Water Markets Agency to focus on facilitating efficient water markets.
“The ACCC have provided the government with a comprehensive set of recommendations to end the secrecy around water use and trading,” Mrs Dalton said.
“They need to change the law now.
“In NSW, the Liberals and Nationals can start by passing my Bill to publicly list all owners of NSW water,” she said.
The budget has also provided funding to modernise Basin river modelling to provide more timely and accurate information about water availability.
The amount of funding for this measure has not been published due to ongoing negotiations with the states.
