OWNERSHIP OF WATER ENTITLEMENTS FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES



The volume of water entitlements owned by businesses with a level of foreign ownership increased from 1.2 million megalitres at 31 December 2010 to 1.8 million megalitres at 30 June 2013. This represented 14% of all reported water entitlements in Australia in 2013, an increase from 9% in 2010.

The increase in water entitlements owned by businesses with a level of foreign ownership was mainly due to an increase in Queensland, where the volume of water assets owned by businesses with a level of foreign ownership increased by approximately 663,000 megalitres to 846,000 megalitres in 2013.

Of the states and territories, the Northern Territory had the lowest proportion of its water entitlements owned by businesses with a level of foreign ownership (1% or 1,500 megalitres). Queensland had the highest proportion of its water entitlements owned by businesses with a level of foreign ownership (26% or 846,000 megalitres).

The proportion of water entitlements used for agriculture in each state and territory that were owned by wholly Australian-owned businesses is shown in the map below.

The industry which showed the largest increase in the volume of water entitlements owned by businesses with a level of foreign ownership was other crop growing (ANZSIC 015), which includes cotton and other broadacre crops. The volume of water owned by businesses with a level of foreign ownership in this industry increased by 922,000 megalitres to 1 million megalitres in 2013. This represented over half of all the water entitlements owned by businesses with a level of foreign ownership in 2013.

The proportion of water entitlements owned by wholly Australian-owned businesses in each industry is shown below.