Release of Goulburn to Murray Post Trade Opportunity Opening Report – December 2024
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The release of the Goulburn to Murray Post Trade Opportunity Opening Report, December 2024, summarises the outcomes from this trade opening and consolidates information available via the Victorian Water Register website with some additional data around the number of unique allocation accounts that traded. It provides insights into the number, volumes and reason for trade for all applications submitted.
The December Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity opened on Monday 16 December at 7 am with an opening limit of around 9 GL.
During the 5-hour submission window between 7am and 12 pm on 16 December, the Victorian Water Register received around 200 trade applications from market participants.
Eligible applications were then randomised to determine a processing order, and Goulburn-Murray Water and Lower Murray Water then began processing the applications in that processing order from 7 am on Tuesday 17 December 2024.
The Victorian Government is dedicated to providing transparency for water market participants and actively overseeing water market operations to ensure ongoing effectiveness. This report on the outcomes of the latest Goulburn to Murray trade opening aims to meet this goal and provide requested information to market participants.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) participated in the October trade opening as an independent observer. The ACCC observed the execution of the randomisation process and attested via written statement that the process was undertaken correctly, with no interference observed. This statement in addition to the post trade report can be found below.
PDF: Goulburn to Murray Post Trade Opportunity Opening Report (December 2024) (1.2 MB)PDF: Australian Competition & Consumer Commission Statement (December 2024) (147 kb)
Victorian Water Register (VWR) users focus group launching in 2025
The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) values feedback and has committed to a review of the new randomisation approach (see our FAQs on the new approach). In line with this, DEECA intends to launch a new focus group for beneficiaries (users) of VWR online services (e.g. the My Water and Broker Portals), to provide increased opportunity for feedback about VWR services from water market participants and other VWR users. Expressions of interest will be sought in early 2025.
Important information: Estimated volume announced for Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity on 16 December
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The next release of seasonal trade opportunity from the Goulburn to the Murray system opens on Monday 16 December. Based on current estimates, approximately 9 GL of Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity will be released.
The randomisation approach implemented for the rescheduled October opening will be used again in December.
- Applications for the Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity should be submitted during the submission window, between 7 am and 12 pm Monday 16 December 2024.
- During the submission window, water market participants should submit trade applications through My Water or the Broker Portal, and all trade applications during this period will be referred for manual processing.
- All Goulburn to Murray trade applications will continue to be referred to manual processing until the system returns to normal business on 17 December 2024.
- After the submission window closes, DEECA will undertake a randomisation process to determine a processing order, in the presence of an ACCC independent observer.
- Manual processing, in the order determined by the randomisation process, will occur on Tuesday 17 December 2024.
- Once manual processing of trade applications is complete, My Water and the Broker Portal will be offline for 30 minutes, before the system is re-opened for normal business.
To better understand this process and what it means for you, please review the attached Application Processing Procedure and Frequently Asked Questions that have been updated for December.
Estimated volume for Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity
The volume of trade opportunity released on 16 December is based on the following:
Observed water use in the Torrumbarry Irrigation Area from 1 July 2024 to 30 November 2024 relative to the long-term historical average water use from 1 July to 30 November.
Any reduction in the Goulburn reserves due to spills that were quarantined at the start of the water year.
Torrumbarry Irrigation Area water use up to 30 November 2024 is around 110 GL, which is around 20% above the long-term average up to 30 November. The estimated 9 GL of trade opportunity is an indicative volume based on the best available data to date. The trade opportunity on 16 December may differ slightly from this estimate if spills occur and are recorded by the Resource Manager and adjustments as a result of use are made to the remaining reserves.
Find out more about how the Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity is calculated here.
Independent observation of the October trade opening
To provide water market participants with confidence in the integrity of the process, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) participated in the October trade opening as an independent observer. The ACCC observed the execution of the randomisation process and attested via written statement that the process was undertaken correctly, with no interference observed. This statement can be found below.
For any further information or assistance with the above, reach out to the Victorian Water Register team on waterregister.support@deeca.vic.gov.au.
PDF: Australian Competition & Consumer Commission Statement (November 2024) (148 kb)PDF: Goulburn to Murray Trade Opening – New Process and Frequently Asked Questions (December) (356 kb)PDF: Goulburn to Murray Trade Opportunity Trade Application Procedure.pdf (109 kb)
Important information – Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity for 16 December 2024
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Important information – Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity for 16 December 2024
The Goulburn to Murray Trade Limit—which governs allocation trade from the Goulburn, Broken, Campaspe and Loddon systems to the Victorian Murray system, New South Wales and South Australia—will open again on Monday 16 December 2024. Estimated volumes will be made public closer to this date.
The randomisation approach implemented for the rescheduled October opening will be used again in December.
- Applications for the Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity should be submitted during the submission window, between 7 am and 12 pm Monday 16 December 2024.
- During the submission window, water market participants should submit trade applications through My Water or the Broker Portal, and all trade applications during this period will be referred for manual processing.
- All Goulburn to Murray trade applications will continue to be referred to manual processing until the system returns to normal business on 17 December 2024.
- After the submission window closes, DEECA will undertake a randomisation process to determine a processing order, in the presence of an ACCC independent observer.
- Manual processing, in the order determined by the randomisation process, will occur on Tuesday 17 December 2024.
- Once manual processing of trade applications is complete, My Water and the Broker Portal will be offline for 30 minutes, before the system is re-opened for normal business.
Customers are encouraged to lodge trade applications throughout the 5-hour submission window. Market participants are not required to submit trade applications as soon as the submission window opens. A customer who submits a trade application at the start of the 5-hour submission window will have the same chance at having their application succeed as a customer who submits at the end of the window.
To better understand this process and what it means for you, please review the attached Application Processing Procedure and Frequently Asked Questions that have been updated for December.
Find out more about how Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity is calculated here.
For any further information or assistance with the above, reach out to the Victorian Water Register team on waterregister.support@deeca.vic.gov.au.
PDF: Goulburn to Murray Trade Opening – New Process and Frequently Asked Questions (December) v.1.0 (358 kb)PDF: Goulburn to Murray Trade Opportunity Trade Application Procedure (109 kb)
Release of post-trade opening report – Goulburn to Murray October opening
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The release of the October 2024 post-trade report summarises the findings from October Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity and consolidates information available via the Victorian Water Register website with some additional data around the number of unique allocation accounts that traded. It provides insights into the number, volumes and reason for trade for all applications submitted.
The rescheduled Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity opened on Thursday 14 November 2025 at 7 am with an opening limit of around 45 gigalitres. The Victorian Water Register received around 400 applications from market participants. Trade applications were received during a 5-hour submission window on 14 November. Eligible applications were then randomised to determine a processing order. Goulburn Murray Water and Lower Murray Water began processing the applications in that processing order from 7 am Friday 15 November.
The Victorian Government is dedicated to providing transparency for water market participants and actively overseeing water market operations to ensure ongoing effectiveness. This report on the outcomes of the latest Goulburn to Murray trade opening aims to meet this goal and provide requested information to market participants.
PDF: Goulburn to Murray Post Trade Opportunity Opening Report October 2024 (1.3 MB)
Important information – change to scheduled My Water outage
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The rescheduled October Goulburn to Murray trade event took place yesterday on Thursday 14 November. The Victorian Water Register received around 400 applications from market participants. Goulburn Murray Water and Lower Murray Water began processing these applications from 7 am this morning (Friday 15 November).
Due to the number of applications received, processing is predicted to finish later than originally communicated.
The previously communicated My Water and Broker Portal outage at 4:30 pm today will now occur later this evening once processing has been completed. My Water and Broker Portal will be offline for around 30 minutes before the system is re-opened for normal business.
Read more: Important information – change to scheduled My Water outage
Reminder: Rescheduled October Trade opportunity this Thursday 14 November
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The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) reminds water market participants about the timings of this Thursday’s rescheduled Goulburn to Murray trade opening. As previously advised, DEECA is implementing a randomisation processing approach for the rescheduled opening.
- Applications for the Goulburn to Murray opportunity should be submitted during the submission window, between 7 am and 12 pm Thursday 14 November.
- During the submission window, all trade applications will be referred to manual processing.
- All Goulburn to Murray trade applications will continue to be referred to manual processing until the system returns to normal business at 5 pm 15 November.
- Manual processing of randomised Goulburn to Murray trade applications will occur on Friday 15 November 2024.
- My Water and the Broker Portal will be offline for 30 minutes at 4:30 pm 15 November before the system is re-opened for normal business.
Read more: Reminder: Rescheduled October Trade opportunity this Thursday 14 November
Rescheduled October Trade opportunity – webinar and updated FAQs now available
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Release of Webinar video
Last week, the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) conducted two webinars with water market participants. The two identical webinars were conducted on Thursday 31 October at 2 pm and 7 pm to inform the market about the new process that will be in place for the rescheduled October Goulburn to Murray trade opening, which is to now take place on Thursday, 14 November.
DEECA has now released video of the first of these webinars, which can be viewed using the link below. Users can also download the presentation and transcript.
Read more: Rescheduled October Trade opportunity – webinar and updated FAQs now available
Rescheduled October Trade opportunity – New process information
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Earlier this week, the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) announced a rescheduled Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity opening for Thursday 14 November 2024.
This followed a disruption during the original 15 October 2024 submission window.
DEECA is implementing a new randomisation processing approach for the rescheduled opening. The approach was designed to provide market participants with reliable access to the October Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity as soon as possible. It will not alter the way water market participants submit trade applications.
Read more: Rescheduled October Trade opportunity – New process information
Important information – Goulburn to Murray trade opening rescheduled to 14 November 2024
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DEECA is announcing that the rescheduled Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity will take place on Thursday, 14 November 2024, using a new application processing approach. This approach is designed to improve user experience and ensure market stability during trade openings. We will implement a two-stage approach to processing applications to address the instability in the current processing method when large numbers of trade applications are submitted simultaneously.
Read more: Important information – Goulburn to Murray trade opening rescheduled to 14 November 2024
Goulburn to Murray October 2024 trade opportunity disrupted – update
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On 15 October 2024, the scheduled Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity was postponed after a technical disruption during the submission window. No applications were approved during this time, and application fees paid were refunded.
The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) apologises for the inconvenience and thanks market participants for their patience following this announcement.
Read more: Goulburn to Murray October 2024 trade opportunity disrupted – update
Celebrating 20 years of the Victorian Water Accounts
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DEECA releases the 20th edition of Victorian Water Accounts with the latest report.
We are excited to announce the release of the 2022–23 Victorian Water Accounts.
The Victorian Water Accounts are a trusted data source on water availability and use.
There are now 20 years of this annual report available, covering dry periods such as the Millennium Drought, and also periods of flooding. This long record of trend data is useful for researchers, policy makers and water users in general.
Read more: Celebrating 20 years of the Victorian Water Accounts
October 2024 seasonal trade opportunity disrupted
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We regret to inform you that a disruption to the Victorian Water Register online portals (MyWater and Broker Portal) occurred during the application submission window for the 15 October 2024 trade opportunity. The unforeseen circumstances have caused disruption to the submission and processing of the Goulburn to Murray trade opening.
As a result of this, and as we investigate the cause of the issue, the trade opportunity scheduled for Tuesday 15 October 2024 has been postponed.
Read more: October 2024 seasonal trade opportunity disrupted
Important information: Volume announced for Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity on 15 October 2024
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The next release of seasonal trade opportunity from the Goulburn to the Murray system opens for submission on Tuesday 15 October 2024 at 10:00 am AEST. Based on current estimates, approximately 45 GL of Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity will be released.
Release of latest Victorian Water Brokers audit report 2022–23
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The Victorian Government is committed to transparency for water market participants and actively overseeing water market operations to ensure their ongoing effectiveness. The release of the 2022–23 annual brokers audit underscores this commitment.
This audit provides oversight of compliance with government rules for using the Victorian Water Register's online Broker Portal and API. The audit also checks the brokers' compliance of their responsibilities to their clients.
The Department of Environment, Energy, and Climate Action engaged independent auditor RSM for the 2022–23 annual audit. RSM audited all 26 intermediary firms that used the Broker Portal or API during 2022–23 to determine how they complied with the Victorian Water Register online Broker Portal use agreement and rules.
Read more: Release of latest Victorian Water Brokers audit report 2022–23
Important information – Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity for 15 October 2024
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The Goulburn to Murray Trade Limit—which governs allocation trade from the Goulburn, Broken, Campaspe and Loddon systems to the Victorian Murray system, New South Wales and South Australia—will open again on Tuesday 15 October 2024. This follows the previous Goulburn to Murray trade opening on 2 July and is the second of three Goulburn to Murray trade openings for the 2024–25 water year. Estimated volumes will be made public closer to this date.
Read more: Important information – Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity for 15 October 2024
Water Market Reform: New Commonwealth government obligations for data accuracy on trade forms are now in effect
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From 1 July 2024 there are new Commonwealth requirements on people trading water.
All information provided by water markets participants in a trade or transfer application form must be comprehensive and accurate. There is also an obligation to keep certain records for five years. Click here to read about what this means for Victorians.
The Inspector-General of Water Compliance has put together FAQs on these new obligations; you can find these here. To find out more information please visit Water market reform – DCCEEW.
Annual Victorian Water Trading Report 2022–23
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The release of the Annual Trade Report for 2022-23 report continues the Victorian Government’s commitment to ensuring all water participants can easily access water market information.
The Annual Trade Report for 2022-23 highlights that water market prices reflect water availability and water demand where more water available generally means lower prices. Victorian annual rainfall was above average as the La Niña event continued into its third year. With this Victoria experienced high water availability and low water prices.
Release of post-trade opening report – July 2024 trade opportunities
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The first of the 2024–25 water year’s scheduled trade openings have completed.
The MDBA Barmah Choke trade opportunity opened for submissions on Monday 1 July 2024 at 8:30 am with a balance of 56,038.7 megalitres (ML) and was manually processed from 10 am until 6 pm. The Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity opened for submissions on Tuesday 2 July 2024 at 8:30 am with a balance of 84,861.90 ML and was manually processed from 10 am until 6 pm.
The Barmah Choke trade opening received a total of 161 trade applications for total volume of 136,528 ML. Of these applications, 87 were made to Victoria, and 74 were made to New South Wales. The new processing protocol (announced Tuesday 26 March 2024) resulted in 31 approved Victorian applications and 29 approved NSW applications.
The Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity received a total of 99 trade applications for a total volume of 235,254 ML. Of these applications, 23 were approved for a total volume of 84,835 ML.
Read more: Release of post-trade opening report – July 2024 trade opportunities
July 2024 Barmah Choke trade summary
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On Monday 1 July 2024, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority made 56,038.7 megalitres (ML) of allocation trade opportunity available from above to below the Barmah Choke. As in previous years, there was more demand than supply.
2024 marked the second year that Victoria and New South Wales (NSW) synchronised the timing of the Barmah Choke trade opportunity.
This year, Victoria and NSW implemented a new joint protocol for the processing of trade applications through the Barmah Choke. The new protocol meant that differences in each state’s processing approach and systems no longer influenced a trader’s success in accessing the available Barmah Choke trade opportunity. You can learn more about how the protocol worked here.
Submissions for Victorian traders opened from 8:30 am to 9 am AEST, with processing commencing from 10 am.
Changes for Water Market Transparency in Victoria
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The Victorian Government has listened to the community and is making new information about Victorian water markets available to ensure transparency and to continue to build trust in water markets. From 1 July 2024, the Minister for Water can now include names of individuals in public reports in specific circumstances.
The Minister for Water will publish two reports in January 2025 on the Victorian Water Register website. These are:
- Large Water Owners – the names of any business that owns more than two per cent of high reliability water shares in the Goulburn or the Murray systems above and below the Barmah Choke have been reported on since the 2019–20 irrigation season (Large Water Owners - Corporations). From 2025 onwards this report will also include names of individuals. This report will be updated annually.
- Frequent Traders – the names of individuals and companies that have made more than 20 priced allocation trades (bought or sold) within, from or to the Goulburn water system, and the Murray water system during a water year. This report will be updated quarterly.
Read more: Changes for Water Market Transparency in Victoria