Water minister confirms her failure to secure commitment from Commonwealth to pause water buybacks

By Shepparton News

Jun 20, 2025

Water buybacks will continue for the foreseeable future.

Victorian Water Minister Gayle Tierney has confirmed during parliamentary question time that she had failed to secure a commitment from the Federal Government to pause the Commonwealth’s purchase of water entitlements.

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At a recent press conference in Shepparton, the minister said she had “requested from the Commonwealth an absolute pause on buybacks”, and also requested the Commonwealth to “publicly provide the socio-economic impact document” that estimated the effect of its buybacks on regional farming communities.

State Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell questioned Ms Tierney in parliament, asking whether the minister had been “successful in securing the agreement of the Commonwealth to your two requests”.

Ms Tierney confirmed she had not been able to.

Ms Lovell then called for the minister to lead a delegation of Goulburn irrigators to Canberra to meet with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and convince him of the need for an end to buybacks, but to no avail.

The Commonwealth recently purchased 13,114 megalitres of Goulburn water at a premium price of $4810 per megalitre, more than $1000 above the seasonal average.