Cupper urges caution on water reforms

INDIVIDUAL water owners will soon be placed on a public register as part of legislation recently introduced to Victorian Parliament to improve transparency of water markets.

Minister for Water Lisa Neville introduced the new Water and Catchment Legislation Amendment Bill 2021, which will allow the names of the largest individual water owners to be published on the Victorian water register.

Mrs Neville said the reforms were introduced after “extensive consultation” to deliver “improved transparency” in Victorian water markets.

Member for Mildura Ali Cupper said the reforms were “vital for water users to have faith in the (water) system”.

“Any individual (who) owns 2 per cent or more water in the Murray or the Goulburn…will be on a public register.

“These are people who own a lot of water, a lot of a very scarce resource that we all rely on.”

Ms Cupper said the Bill aimed to get the “balance right” to respect individual water holder privacy – peoples’ individual details and exact balance of ownership would not be disclosed – and the public’s “need to have access to information”.

“When conditions are dry, people start to worry about speculation and artificial manipulation of …water markets.

“This system, which ultimately is about making sure the environment is sustained, needs to have buy-in. We need to feel like everyone is being treated fairly.

“(Transparency and fairness) is the key to everybody getting what they need – traditional owners, the environment …our farmers who rely on extraction, and also our tourism operators who rely on water being in the river,” Ms Cupper said.

The legislation will allow for the introduction of a cap-and-trade system for any new water extraction share for river diverters within declared areas such as the lower Murray.

Among other changes included in the Bill will be the replacement of the Victorian Catchment Management Council with independent, regionally-based, advisory committees.