Senator the Hon. Penny Wong
Minister for Climate Change, Energy Efficiency and Water
Water purchase tender in Lower Balonne catchment extended
Media release
13 April 2010
PW 82/10
The Minister for Climate Change, Energy Efficiency and Water, Senator Penny Wong today announced an extension to the deadline for applications for the $100 million water purchase tender in Queensland’s Lower Balonne region.
The tender deadline has been extended by two weeks until 5pm on Friday 30 April 2010.
“This timeline will give irrigators more time to make a fully informed decision on their sell offer,” Senator Wong said.
“The Rudd Government understands that we need to improve the health of our rivers and that the quickest way of doing this is by purchasing water entitlements from willing sellers across the Basin.”
A number of factors have contributed to this decision:
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One of the conditions of the tender is that successful sellers must apply to have their entitlements managed under the 'multi-year accounting rule' contained in the new Resource Operations Plan before a sale contract will be issued.
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This requirement was incorporated into the tender conditions to provide greater confidence that water purchased by the Government would deliver environmental benefits.
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On 31 March 2010, Lower Balonne irrigators met with the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (QDERM) and asked for more information about how the multi-year accounting rule would apply to irrigators’ entitlements.
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QDERM committed to providing each local irrigator with an initial assessment of how their entitlements would be managed under the new multi-year accounting rule. However, this would have left little time for irrigators to finalise their tender sell offers.
“By providing extra time for irrigators to finalise their tender bids, willing sellers will be able to participate in the tender process with confidence,” Senator Wong said.
Copies of the guidelines and the application form for people who are considering selling their water entitlements are available at www.environment.gov.au/waterpurchasing, or can be obtained by calling 1800 218 478.
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