Water policy and the impact of water buybacks under the Murray Darling Basin Plan were under the microscope at a recent Rural Press Club event in Brisbane.

Zara Lowien, the CEO of the National Irrigators' Council; Nick Waters, Managing Partner of Riparian Capital Partners and Marti Beeston, Regional Manager One Basin CRC formed the discussion panel on developments in water policy and what’s changed over the last four years.

Cotton Australia’s General Manager Michael Murray was first to offer a question to the panel on whether the Restoring Our Rivers Bill contained any specific risk or opportunities for the Northern Basin and Queensland in particular.

The answer was ‘YES’ in that it opens up the Northern Basin to target contributions towards the 450gl upwater and also opens up a pathway for water recovery through rules-based changes, a significant move away from voluntary participation at market prices.