Owners who hold more than 2% of high reliability water shares, 2022-23

Note for all tables
All information is at 30 June 2023.

Water shares owned by related owners have not been added together. The Victorian Water Register does not collect information about company structures which would be needed to determine which companies are related to one another.

Only where names of water share owners are exactly the same have the water shares been consolidated.

Currently, there are no individuals who own over two per cent of water shares in the systems covered in this report.

State Street Australia Limited is the registered owner of water shares, in its capacity as a custodian.

Who were the largest owners of water in 2022-23?

We define large water owners within a system as any business that owns over two per cent of the high reliability water shares within that water system.

The Goulburn system

The Goulburn system includes trading zones:

• 1A Greater Goulburn
• 1B Boort
• 3 Lower Goulburn

Map of the system:

Figure 01: A visual representation of the ownership of high reliability water shares in the Goulburn

Each water share owner is represented by a circle. The size of the circle represents the total volume of high reliability water shares held by each owner. The colour represents whether the water share is owned by the environment (green), privately (red) or by a water corporation (blue). The named circles represent the water share owners above the 2% threshold.

The Murray above the Barmah Choke

The Murray above the Barmah Choke includes trading zones:

• 6 Vic Murray – Dartmouth to Barmah

Map of the system:

Figure 02: A visual representation of the ownership of high reliability water shares in the Murray above the Barmah Choke

Each water share owner is represented by a circle. The size of the circle represents the total volume of high reliability water shares held by each owner. The colour represents whether the water share is owned by the environment (green), privately (red) or by a water corporation (blue). The named circles represent the water share owners above the 2% threshold.

The Murray below the Barmah Choke

The Murray below the Barmah Choke includes trading zones:

• 6B Lower Broken Creek
• 7 Vic Murray – Barmah to South Australia

Map of the system:

Figure 03:A visual representation of the ownership of high reliability water shares in the Murray below the Barmah Choke

Each water share owner is represented by a circle. The size of the circle represents the total volume of high reliability water shares held by each owner. The colour represents whether the water share is owned by the environment (green), privately (red) or by a water corporation (blue). The named circles represent the water share owners above the 2% threshold.

Who owns water shares in northern Victoria

Map of northern Victoria:

Figure 04: Pie chart showing the total volume of high reliability water shares owned by the Environment, Private or Water Authority in northern Victoria

The figure below shows the ownership of all high reliability water shares in northern Victoria. The green slice is the volume held by the Commonwealth Government and the Victorian Environmental Water Holder for environmental use. The blue slice represents water corporations, and the red are the private owners.

Most water shares are owned by private owners.

Publishing this information

Part 5A of the Water Act 1989 sets out the purpose of the Victorian Water Register, including to make information about water markets publicly available. This information was published in accordance with section 84EA.

Foreign ownership of water entitlements

Some Victorian water entitlements are foreign owned. The Australian Taxation Office reports on foreign ownership of water. The latest report is at 30 June 2022, link here.