PHOTO: The Barwon river at Brewarrina. (Image taken from ABC Western Plains, supplied by Burra McHughes)
In late December, the Parliamentary Upper House handed down a report criticising the current system of water trading in NSW and calling for the system to become more transparent.
Key findings were that in the forty years since water trading in the state was first formalised, it has not only expanded exponentially to become a billion dollar industry, but:
(1) “the introduction of private and institutional investors in water trading markets has led to market destabilisation and manipulation at the expense of irrigation farmers, regional communities and the natural environment” and…