Overview
The Australian Government is committed to improving confidence in Murray-Darling Basin water markets by increasing transparency of water markets information and enforcement agency access to this information, which will ensure appropriate regulatory oversight.
In 2021, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released a report making recommendations to enhance markets for tradeable water rights, including their operation, transparency, regulation, competitiveness and efficiency in the Murray-Darling Basin. In response, an independent report called the Water Market Reform: Final Roadmap was published in October 2022. It included 23 practical and affordable recommendations.
The Australian Government and Basin state governments supported the Roadmap report and agreed in-principle to implement its recommendations.
To help make these changes, the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Act 2023 was passed. It updates the Water Act 2007 (Water Act) to make water trading in the Basin more open, fair, and trustworthy.
The Water Act requires certain persons or classes of persons to collect and share water markets information with the Bureau of Meteorology (Bureau). This includes details about trades and offers to trade. The information must follow the Water Markets Data Standards (WMDS).
We are now seeking your feedback on the Exposure Drafts for the proposed Water Amendment (Water Markets Information) Regulations 2026 (Regulations) and the WMDS.
Your views will help us finalise the Regulations and the WMDS.
