After 28 years without a major flood, the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley has experienced three major floods in the past three years. A proposal to raise the Warragamba Dam wall for flood mitigation in the Hawkesbury-Nepean is currently being assessed for development. This e-brief describes some of...

The NSW Select Committee on Floodplain Harvesting is currently considering the future of how overland flow water in the NSW Murray Darling Basin will be managed and regulated. This briefing note highlights six clear reasons why floodplain harvesting should be limited to the legal volumetric...

This report sets out the Productivity Commission’s findings and recommendations on the effectiveness of the Register of Foreign-owned Water Entitlements. The key message of the report is that there is no compelling case for major changes to the Register.

This report assesses the progress of the Australian, State and Territory governments since 2017 towards achieving the objectives and outcomes of the National Water Initiative (NWI). It also provides practical advice to governments on future directions for national water reform through renewal of the NWI.

This report argues for cap-and-trade approaches to the management of New Zealand's fresh water.

The Australian government has regulated foreign investment since 1975. This draft report presents the Commission’s preliminary analysis and views on the rationales for the Register of Foreign-owned Water Entitlements, its effectiveness, costs and benefits, and possible improvements, for both its current and future forms.

This report outlines how money originally allocated to ensure a healthy Murray-Darling Basin is now earmarked to be spent on seemingly unrelated infrastructure in New South Wales. Instead of recovering 450GL promised to the environment in downstream states, this money may now flow to a...

In August 2019, the ACCC was directed to conduct an inquiry into markets for tradeable water rights in the Murray–Darling Basin. This report makes recommendations to enhance markets for tradeable water rights, including their operation, transparency, regulation, competitiveness and efficiency.

In discussions about the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, one key reform has been consistently underestimated - separation of water title from land, and its subsequent tradability. This discussion paper notes that governments across the Murray-Darling Basin need to work out what they are aiming for from...

The Australian Government established the Register of Foreign Ownership of Water Entitlements (the Register) in 2017. The primary aim of the Register is to increase transparency about foreign ownership of Australian water assets and, more broadly, maintain community confidence in Australia’s foreign investment policy. This...

This draft report assesses the progress of the Australian, State and Territory governments towards achieving the objectives and outcomes of the National Water Initiative (NWI), and provides practical advice on future directions for national water reform.

This working paper presents the array of different policy instruments available for managing freshwater quality and quantity. In doing so, the paper provides insights into how the various instruments have been used to incentivise behaviour change in the New Zealand context, and outlines the barriers...

This publication provides an overview of the economic effects of water recovery on water prices and the irrigation sector in the southern Murray–Darling Basin. The analysis uses economic modelling to separate the effects of water recovery from seasonal variations in rainfall and water supply, along...

In 2017, the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture and Water Resources paid almost $80 million for water rights in the Condamine-Balonne valley. This research is based on unredacted valuation documents about the ‘Watergate’ scandal.

This interim report draws upon analysis of comprehensive water market data from 2012 onwards, and the views of a broad range of people with interests in the use and trade of water in the Murray-Darling Basin. The report considers options to enhance markets for tradable...

Water management in the Murray-Darling Basin has radically changed over the past 30 years, including Aboriginal people’s share of water rights in New South Wales.

The objective of the audit was to examine whether strategic water procurements by the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment were conducted consistent with government policy, were supported by appropriate program design, were planned and executed appropriately, and achieved value for money.

This inquiry concerns the National Water Initiative (NWI) — a 2004 intergovernmental agreement between the Australian government and all State and Territory governments. It is the Productivity Commission’s second national water reform inquiry, with the first undertaken in 2017.

This report presents a series of forward looking scenarios for the southern Murray-Darling Basin water market, examining potential future water prices, trade flows and irrigation sector outcomes, taking into account recent and expected trends for water supply and demand.

This report documents the final review of the National Partnership Agreement on Implementing Water Reform in the Murray-Darling Basin (the NPA). Clause 34 of the NPA requires that it be reviewed with regard to progress made by the parties in achieving the agreed outcomes 12...