FEDERAL ROYAL COMISSION INTO WATER
Royal
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Comission
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Royal ✳︎ Comission ✳︎
Why this matters
Water is not an abstract policy issue in Murray.
It determines whether farms operate, whether towns survive, whether local jobs exist, and whether families can plan for the future with confidence. When water systems fail, the damage is economic, social and generational.
For too long, decisions about water have been made without transparency, without proper scrutiny, and without accountability to the communities most affected. The consequences are now visible across Murray — declining confidence, fractured trust, and communities paying the price for a system they did not design and cannot see into.
That is why I am calling for a Federal Royal Commission into Water.
What went wrong
The current water framework is riddled with unanswered questions.
We still do not have clear, public visibility over who owns water, how much is held, how it is traded, or how decisions are made when water is reallocated or removed from productive use. Rules have changed repeatedly, often mid-stream, leaving communities to absorb the shock while others benefit quietly.
A system that cannot clearly explain who benefited, who decided, and who paid the price is a system that has failed the basic test of public confidence.
Why a Royal Commission is necessary
Internal reviews and departmental processes cannot examine themselves.
A Royal Commission is the only mechanism with the independence, powers and authority to:
Compel evidence and testimony
Examine decision-making across jurisdictions
Follow financial and water ownership structures
Test whether policy outcomes match stated environmental and community objectives
This is not about revisiting old arguments. It is about establishing the truth — clearly, publicly and once and for all.
What this is — and what it is not
This is not an attack on environmental outcomes.
Healthy rivers matter. Sustainable systems matter.
But environmental policy must be honest, evidence-based and accountable. It must deliver real outcomes without hollowing out the communities that produce our food and sustain regional Australia.
A Royal Commission is about restoring balance, integrity and trust — not blame for its own sake.
What must be examined
Water ownership and control
Who owns water, how ownership is structured, and whether the current framework allows concentration, concealment or unfair advantage.
Water accounting and measurement
Whether water is being accurately measured, reported and managed, and whether communities can trust the numbers decisions are based on.
Whether water is being accurately measured, reported and managed, and whether communities can trust the numbers decisions are based on.
Environmental outcomes
Water Accountability and Data Integrity
Economic and social impacts
The real effects of water removal on regional towns, employment, food production and long-term viability — not theoretical models, but lived outcomes.
Whether current settings are genuinely improving river health, or whether they are delivering poor results at enormous cost while ignoring more effective alternatives.
Governance and transparency
How decisions are made, who influences them, and whether the public interest has been subordinated to opaque processes and institutional convenience.
Why I am pushing this now
As the independent Member for Murray, I represent communities that live with the consequences of water policy every day. I see the impact on families, businesses and towns that have done everything asked of them — and are still paying the price.
Without transparency, confidence cannot return.
Without confidence, investment dries up.
Without investment, communities decline.
A Federal Royal Commission into Water is the first step toward fixing a system that is no longer trusted and no longer fit for purpose.