Basin Plan must maintain "willing seller / willing buyer" principle for water recovery

Last week QFF and Cotton Australia provided submissions to the Federal Government regarding its draft framework for delivering the 450GL of environmental water called for by the Restoring Our Rivers Act, which passed in December 2023.

Disappointingly, the programs introduced to facilitate this water delivery fail to clarify or acknowledge the issues previously raised by Cotton Australia, QFF and other industry bodies in relation to the impacts water recovery has had, and will continue to have, on the agriculture sector and broader Basin communities.

QFF shares Cotton Australia’s concerns regarding the rules-based changes proposed as a method of water entitlement recovery presented within the framework’s Resilient Rivers Program.

This recovery method is a substantial departure from the Basin Plan’s principle of willing participation and market guided pricing.

This potential shift would effectively result in compulsory water acquisitions, which would likely have a range of negative repercussions on existing entitlement holders. The framework contains no information on how compensation would be calculated and applied under the rules-based change, inviting uncertainty and confusion.

As noted in Cotton Australia’s submission the “thin” nature of the Northern Basin market is not a valid reason to tamper with the “willing seller / willing buyer” principle that has underscored the Basin Plan’s delivery to date. The market is doing its job in dictating the value of water entitlements, and if the Commonwealth is unable to secure water this is likely an indication that they are not offering a fair market price.

QFF join Cotton Australia in strongly encouraging the government to commit to off-farm efficiency projects, on-farm efficiency projects, lease arrangements and water entitlements purchases, in that order, before implementing any rules-based changes.

The water market cannot function productively in this climate of doubt. Effective water policy and entitlement management requires stable regulation to facilitate investment and productivity. 

Should the goal posts to water recovery continue to change, it makes it very difficult to maintain any confidence in water recovery measures. The Basin Plan must be delivered holistically in accordance with a fair and equitable market. This delivery also requires due consideration for regional communities and a consistent, transparent, and cost-effective approach to managing the programs the Commonwealth has established to collect environmental water.