SYDNEY – Cotton Australia, representing roughly 1,500 growers across New South Wales, Queensland, and beyond, has released a comprehensive submission titled Independent Review of the Water Act 2007, authored by the organisation’s General Manager Michael Murray.
For international brands, supply chain auditors, and textile manufacturers relying on Australian fibre, the message is clear: the era of structural adjustment and massive water recovery is complete, and the focus must now shift to system optimisation and accountability.
For nearly two decades, the Water Act 2007 and the Murray-Darling Basin Plan have been major determinants for Australian cotton farms. With aggregate water recovery now sitting at or near the Sustainable Diversion Limit (SDL) target of 2,680 gigalitres, and all 91 assessable water resource areas reporting compliance, Cotton Australia argues that the primary goals of the Act have been met.
Rather than sparking another disruptive cycle of entitlement buybacks, policymakers must recognise that over 70% of regional river flows are already dedicated to the environment, and the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder manages a portfolio exceeding 2,100 gigalitres.
For global observers tracking sustainable cotton production, the submission highlights an important operational reality – Australian growers are approximately three times more water-use efficient than the global average. However, further environmental gains cannot be unlocked simply by stripping more water from them.
Citing recent assessments that indicate additional water recovery yields no measurable ecological improvement in the vast majority of water resource units, Cotton Australia’s 24-point recommendation plan urges a pivot toward non-flow, complementary measures. These include targeted investments in fish passage remediation, carp suppression, riparian zone management, and water quality initiatives.
Property rights and market integrity form another core pillar of the submission. Secure, transparent water markets have allowed Australian cotton growers to adapt to extreme climate variability, but this resilience depends entirely on absolute confidence in entitlement reliability.
The industry strongly opposes rules-based water acquisition, asserting that any future rebalancing or Aboriginal water ownership expansion must occur strictly through transparent, willing-seller market pathways that protect existing asset values from administrative dilution.
Furthermore, the submission advocates for greater parity in measurement and reporting standards between environmental water holders and commercial irrigators, ensuring that public water portfolios are held to the same rigorous accountability as productive farming enterprises.
Ultimately, Cotton Australia’s submission is a potential roadmap for the international textile supply chain. It demonstrates that world-class environmental stewardship and intensive agricultural productivity are not mutually exclusive, provided that future policy is guided by empirical science, regulatory streamlining, and a commitment to the socio-economic vitality of rural communities.
