New market insights to increase transparency
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The Victorian government is committed to increasing water market transparency. This commitment includes making available new water market information and improved insights into the market.
During the water market transparency options paper consultation, we heard that there was a need for increased transparency of allocation trades, how much water is available and better information on inter-valley trading.
Today, three new dashboards have been released on the Victorian Water Register website to increase transparency on:
- How allocation is being traded and water market prices (view allocation trades dashboard)
- How much water is available to private owners, environmental water holders and water corporations, in each trading zone and each region (view available water dashboard)
- How inter-valley trade limits work and available trading opportunities (view trade opportunities dashboard)
No Increase to Victorian Water Register Prescribed Fees for 2020-21
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Application fees for dealing in water shares and to trade water allocation are set by regulation under the Water Act 1989 and are based on the monetary fee unit set by the Victorian Treasurer.
The Treasurer has determined no increase to the monetary fee unit in 2020-21.
Therefore, the prescribed fees for dealing in water shares and trading water allocation will remain the same as currently set for 2019-20.
The 2020-21 prescribed fees are now up on the water register website and can be found here: https://waterregister.vic.gov.au/about/forms-and-fees/fees
Important info for end of 2019-20 financial year
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The Victorian Water Register will be closed while we complete the end of year accounting to roll over from the 2019-20 water year to 2020-21.
On-line services will be suspended from 5pm AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time) on Tuesday 30 June 2020 until 12 noon AEST on Thursday 2 July 2020.
Further consultation on water market transparency
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Community consultation held last year saw a desire for more publicly available information about water ownership and we are asking the community to help us fill in the gaps on what this information should be. Thank you to those who filled in the previous survey, your contributions are being used to improve transparency in Victoria's water markets.
We are now conducting further consultation to ask water users and irrigators about what details they are comfortable sharing to ensure the correct balance between transparency and privacy has been struck. Please head to https://engage.vic.gov.au/water-market-transparency to fill in a short survey, it should only take 5 minutes.
Read more: Further consultation on water market transparency
Water Brokers accessing the online Broker Portal
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The Victorian government is committed to increasing water market transparency. Part of this will maintain a current listing of the names of water brokers that meet government standards required for using Victoria’s online Broker Portal.
The Victorian Water Register offers an automated allocation trade approval process for water brokers through the Broker Portal for water brokers. To access the Broker Portal, water brokers have committed to the Victorian Water Register Interface Access Agreement and Victorian Water Register Interface Common Rules.
In signing the Victorian Water Register Interface Access Agreement, the water broker agrees that they:
- Have clear obligations to obtain correct customer authorisation, and properly notify customers of trade outcomes in a timely manner at all times;
- Are responsible for maintaining the security and confidentiality of customer data relating to any trades submitted;
- Retain records relating to the applications they submit and provide these records to the Department of Environment. Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) on request, including for the purpose of auditing compliance with the Agreement; and
- Must maintain professional indemnity insurance of not less than $5 million that specifically includes the conducting of a water broking business, or similar water market activity.
Consultation extended on Goulburn to Murray trade review
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The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning have extended public consultation on the Goulburn to Murray trade review and updated the approach for talking to the community in light of COVID-19 restrictions in Victoria.
Two new documents have also been made available which provide practical examples of how the trade rule options work, and more background about trade rules in northern Victoria.
Consultation has been extended to 15 May 2020 to allow more time for the public to consider the proposed changes and make submissions through the Engage Victoria website.
DELWP will be running a set of webinars for the public in place of public sessions so people can listen to a presentation and have the chance to ask questions about the specifics of the trade rule options.
Webinars will be run on the 24th, 27th and 28th of April and details are available on the Engage Victoria website.
Read more: Consultation extended on Goulburn to Murray trade review
Broken trade out closing 31 March 2020
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In line with the trading rules for the Broken system, allocation trade out of the Broken system will close for this season on Tuesday 31 March 2020. Trade applications received after 31 March will not be approved.
The 31 March 2020 closing date does not apply to trade within the Broken system or back-trade into the Broken from other systems.
Available trade opportunities can be found here.
Goulburn to Murray trade opportunity
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An issue was encountered this morning, Wednesday 18 March 2020, in the processing of trade opportunities in Victorian Water Register.
This issue resulted in an error in the volume of trade opportunity available under the Goulburn to Murray trade rule.
Once this issue was identified, all online trading services, including the Broker Portal and API and MyWater were immediately taken offline.
The issue has now been resolved and all online services were restored at approximately 11.00am this morning.
The balance of the Goulburn IVT account is currently about 210 GL. In line with the Goulburn to Murray trade rule, further trade opportunity will only be available if the balance of the Goulburn IVT account reduces below 200 GL.
Consultation begins on Goulburn to Murray trade rule changes
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The Minister for Water has released a consultation paper on changes to the Goulburn to Murray trade rule and today the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning starts 6 weeks of public consultation to gather community feedback on the proposals.
The Goulburn to Murray trade rule affects how water can be traded between the Goulburn and Murray systems, and feedback from the community will support the development and implementation of trade rules to be better manage trade between the two systems.
You can get a copy of the consultation paper below and more information on the Goulburn to Murray trade review can be found here.
Read more: Consultation begins on Goulburn to Murray trade rule changes
Improving market transparency and carryover information
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The Victorian Government remains committed to improving market transparency and is publishing more information than ever before including on how carryover is being used.
DELWP today published the first in a series of fact sheets on carryover, which offers insights into how carryover is being used by active irrigators across northern Victoria.
Read more: Improving market transparency and carryover information
How to use the ‘Where can I trade?’ tool
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The Victorian Government is committed to improving water market transparency and making our information more available and accessible than ever before.
One of the features of water trading is inter-valley trade, which can be used to move allocation between different trading zones by allocation trade or tagged use.
The ability to move water between trading zones is subject to trade limits, which define how much water can be transferred from one trading zone to another.
Today, DELWP in association with Goulburn-Murray Water and Lower Murray Water are releasing an instructional video on how to use the ‘Where can I trade?’ tool.
Goulburn to Murray allocation trade opportunity
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Trade from the Goulburn, Loddon, Broken and Campaspe systems to the Victorian Murray and interstate is prevented when the balance of the Goulburn Inter-Valley Trade (IVT) account is 200 GL or more.
At the time of this news item, the balance of the Goulburn IVT account is approximately 201 GL.
Water is continuing to be called out from the Goulburn IVT account by the MDBA to supply the Murray. These releases are reducing the balance of the Goulburn IVT account and will create trade opportunity once the balance reduces below 200 GL.
The Resource Manager will be publicly updating the balance of the Goulburn IVT account with the volumes called out at 10am on a Wednesday.
This season, volumes called out from the Goulburn IVT are being updated once a week, rather than twice a week as in previous seasons.
Changes to Statutory Declarations from January 1
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There are some significant changes that come into effect from January 1, 2020.
From January 1 onwards, the "Oaths and Affirmations Act 2018" which came into effect on 1 March 2019, will change the framework for the way to make statutory declarations.
A transitional period that allowed statutory declarations to be valid even if made under the old system expires on New Year's Eve 2019, and the new framework must be followed from 1 January, 2020.
If you use statutory declarations, you need to understand the changes.
Tracking your allocation trade applications
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The tracking allocation trade functionality that allows a broker to track his/her trades is now available again:
http://waterregister.vic.gov.au/Public/TrackAllocation.aspx
The trade outcome notification letters that a broker sends to his/her customers includes the link (http://waterregister.vic.gov.au/Public/TrackAllocation.aspx) so that the customers can see the details of their trades according to the Water Register website.
Greater transparency for Victorian water markets
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DELWP has been consulting with the community on water market transparency based on an options released in September at engage.vic.gov.au/water-market-transparency. We heard from a wide range of water market participants, and have consolidated what was heard into a closing the loop consultation summary report. Most people were overwhelmingly in favour of greater transparency in certain aspects of water markets with an appropriate level of protection for irrigators’ commercial privacy.
Following consultation, the Victorian Government has announced a range of actions to improve transparency
2018-19 water trading report
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The Victorian Water Trading Annual Report for 2018-19 is now available.
This report summarises all water trades recorded in the Victorian Water Register for the 2018-19 year. It presents information about the number, volume, price and location of trades for water shares, allocation, and groundwater and surface water take and use licences.
Prevailing dry conditions in northern Victoria and the continuing drought in New South Wales resulted in higher market prices for water allocation, with market prices up to three times higher than 2017-18 prices. The number of trades increased, but lower volumes of water were traded and higher market prices were recorded for both water allocation and water shares.
Allocation trade not available morning of 12 December 2019
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There will be scheduled upgrades to to the Victorian Water Register happening on the morning of Thursday December 12th between 12:00 AM and 12:00 PM.
During this time access to allocation trading will not be available either through water corporations or online
Read more: Allocation trade not available morning of 12 December 2019
Tagged use restrictions take effect 12 December 2019
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New rules to restrict water use from tagged accounts will take effect on 12 December 2019, as previously announced by the Minister for Water.
Final regulatory approval for these new rules was given on 10 December and the restrictions will take effect from 12.00am on 12 December 2019.
The new rules restrict tagged use when trade limits for related allocation trade have been reached. Restrictions on tagged use only apply when allocation trade is also closed.
Read more: Tagged use restrictions take effect 12 December 2019
Changes to tagged trade and operational regime for the Goulburn system
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The Minister for Water has today announced an interim operating regime that sets out how much traded water can be delivered from the Goulburn to the Murray system this summer.
The interim operating regime will ensure that Victoria meets the inter-valley trade volume requested by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to fulfil downstream delivery commitments, while using targeted variable flows that minimise environmental risk.
The Minister has also confirmed that the Victorian Government is putting restrictions in place on 12 December 2019 for the use of water from tagged accounts, subject to final regulatory approval. This means that tagged account holders will no longer be able to use water from Goulburn system accounts tagged to the Murray when there are trade limits in place between the Goulburn and Murray systems. More information is available on upcoming changes to tagged trade below.
Read more: Changes to tagged trade and operational regime for the Goulburn system
More information about works licence applications in the Victorian lower Murray region
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A set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) have been developed regarding works licence applications that will be assessed by the Minister for Water following the announcement on 10 July of new measures to manage the impact of increasing extractions on the environment and existing entitlement holders.
Previously provided information and factsheets on these changes can be found here.