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The Victorian Basin Communities’ Inter-departmental Committee (Vic Basin IDC) was created to enable the development of a whole-of-government response to the impacts of open tender water purchase while still meeting the requirements of the Murray Darling Basin Plan.

This will help Victoria respond appropriately and minimise negative outcomes.

How has the Vic Basin IDC come about?

In December 2023, the Australian Government passed legislation that made changes to the Murray Darling Basin Plan. This enables the Australian Government greater powers to purchase water overriding the strong socio-economic protections for communities that were previously agreed to by all states and the Australian Government.

The Australian Government commenced its Voluntary Water Purchase Program in July 2024. Victoria does not support the Australian Government’s open tender buybacks but cannot stop them.

To coordinate its response, the Victorian Government established the Vic Basin IDC to coordinate a whole of government approach to:

  • develop strategies to protect Victorian Basin communities from socio-economic impacts
  • identify broad and emerging opportunities
  • encourage information sharing between departments and agencies, and with the community.

Victoria is also developing better ways to recover water through an alternative approach to water purchases as outlined in the Planning our Basin future together Prospectus.

Responsibilities

The Vic Basin IDC will monitor Australian Government water purchases and consider the potential impacts to Victorian communities and provide coordinated, appropriate responses to help mitigate negative outcomes. The Vic Basin IDC will:

  • identify current baseline facts in northern Victoria around farming, processors, and employment, and strategic transition plans
  • investigate how buybacks may impact regions across northern Victoria
  • develop actions to reduce short, medium, and long-term socio-economic impacts of buybacks
  • encourage information sharing between departments and agencies, and with the community
  • provide advice to ministers on the above considerations.

Members of the Vic Basin IDC

The Victorian Government departments and agencies represented include:

  • Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC)
  • Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF)
  • Department of Energy, Environment, Climate Action (DEECA)
  • Department of Transport and Planning (DTP)
  • Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions (DJSIR)
  • Department of Government Services (DGS)
  • Regional Development Victoria
  • Agriculture Victoria

Meetings

The Vic Basin IDC meets as required.

  • Tour to Northern Victoria
    • In April 2025, the IDC toured of parts of the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District where they engaged directly with farmers, businesses and community leaders, including Local Government representatives.
    • The IDC heard first-hand about the complex issues facing the Goulburn-Murray region and concerns about the flow-on impacts buybacks can have for businesses, industries, and communities.
    • The IDC also heard clear support for the Victorian Government’s Planning our Basin future together Prospectus, which outlines options for achieving Basin Plan objectives without harming communities.
IDC members attending a tour within the Goulburn-Murray region

Water Purchases

Following changes to Basin Plan in 2023, the Australian Government is purchasing up to an additional 450 GL of environmental water.

The Australian Government released its final ‘450 GL Framework’ and the Restoring Our Rivers: Trading Strategy in July 2024, setting out its approach to water purchase towards the 450 GL of additional environmental water.

Several rounds of purchases in the Southern Connected Basin are expected over the next 3 years through this program.

The first purchase round was the Restoring our Rivers 2024 Selected Catchments Open Tender which ran from mid-July 2024 to 11 September 2024, targeting 70 GL of water entitlements in selected catchments in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia.

In Victoria, this included the Ovens catchment and Victorian Murray in trading zones 6 and 7. The Australian Government began to publish contract notices for the Selected Catchments Open Tender on AusTender in March 2025.

Two Expressions of Interest (EOIs) for further water purchase rounds in the Southern Connected Basin closed on 27 November 2024:

  • for the purchase of single water rights in 2025 from the southern connected Basin catchments (areas excluded in the Restoring our Rivers 2024 Selected Catchments Open Tender).
  • for the purchase of large portfolios of water (around 20 GL or greater) in 2025 from single legal entities across multiple catchments in the southern Basin.

The purchase round for large portfolios of water opened in March 2025. The Australian Government has advised that the purchase round for single water rights will progress in mid-2025.

The Australian Government is also purchasing up to $100 million of water rights through its Aboriginal Water Entitlements Program (AWEP).This water does not contribute to the 450 GL of additional water for the environment.

Australian Government Water Share Transfers

A summary of water share transfers to the Australian Government by trading zone and reliability can now be found at: Australian Government Water Share Transfers.

This information is updated on a monthly basis and is available for download.

More information

Page last updated: 18/06/25