Oppose foreign ownership of Australia's water

Written by: Duncan B. on 15 october 2025

Large areas of Victoria and South Australia are affected by drought. Some dairy farmers in drought areas have suffered about a 50% drop in their income compared to last season. Dairy farmers in southwest Victoria and west Gippsland are battling to survive. South Australian potato farmers are predicting that there will be a severe shortage of potatoes due to drought in potato growing areas in SA.

The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting warmer than average summer daytime temperatures in most of Australia with unusually high maximum temperatures in parts of Victoria and Tasmania. Overnight temperatures for November to January are very likely to be above average across almost all of Australia. The BOM predicts unusually high minimum temperatures across most of the country, especially in northern and eastern Australia.

With this disturbing scenario in mind, Australians should by extremely concerned at the level of foreign ownership of Australia’s water. According to the latest annual report of the Register of Foreign Ownership of Australian Assets, in the 12 months to June 30, foreign ownership of Australian water entitlements rose by 3.3% from 4775 gigalitres (GL) to 4932GL. The overal proportion of water entitlements with a level of foreign ownership rose by 0.5% from 11.8 to 12.3 % in that time.

Canadian and US investors control 1778Gl of water, equal to 36% of the water held by foreign interests. Canadian pension fund PSP Investments is the biggest player among the foreign owners of our water. Canada ranks as the nation’s largest foreign owner of our water with 1062GL, with the US second on 716GL. The UK is third with 352Gl. China is fourth with 351GL, and France comes in fifth with 207GL.

Looking at foreign ownership of our water on a state-by-state basis, foreign interests own 10% of water entitlements in the NSW-ACT, 19.2% of Queensland’s water, and about 7% of Victoria’s water. Foreign interests own almost 13% of the Murray-Darling Basin’s water. 

Foreign interests own 28.1% of North Murray-Darling Basin surface water and 7.8% of Southern Murray-Darling Basin surface water. Foreign interests own a 13% proportion of groundwater across the Murray-Darling Basin.

As Australia suffers more in the future from higher temperatures and lower rainfall in many areas, the risk of droughts will increase. We must not allow more of our water to fall into foreign hands!

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