Foreign ownership of Australia’s water rights on the rise

The Albanese government has flagged more voluntary buybacks of water to meet a shortfall in the planned reclaiming of water for the environment. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Foreign interests hold almost 12% of all water entitlements in the Murray-Darling Basin and the level of foreign ownership in water is increasing, a new report shows.

Foreigners own or have a significant share in 4,503GL of Australian water entitlements, which is 11.3% of all the entitlements across the country, the Australian Taxation Office’s report says.