“They’re conflicted,” Victorian Farmers Federation water council chairman Richard Anderson said. “This is what happens when you can buy a seat (on the NIC) as long as you’ve got dollars in your pocket.”
NIC chief executive Steve Whan said Duxton and Blue Sky were just two of the council’s 34 members.
And while Duxton sits on the reference group drafting the NIC’s water market policies, Mr Whan said ultimately all policy had to be signed off by the council’s majority.
Asked if non-irrigators should sit on the council, Mr Whan said both Blue Sky Investments and Duxton Water “are irrigators”.
But Duxton Water’s 2018 annual report and balance sheet show it owns no land on which to use the massive volumes of allocation water it buys and sells across the southern Murray Darling Basin.
Blue Sky owns properties, but its financials show no evidence it irrigates its own land.
Colliers International recently reported Duxton Water produced total returns to shareholders of 40 per cent in 2018, while Blue Sky Water Fund returned 34.4 per cent, buying and holding large volumes of allocation water.
Duxton Water last year paid $31.76 million for an estimated 100,000ML of water and gained another 61,000ML against its entitlements, giving it control of about 14 per cent of the total volume of annual allocation trade in the southern basin (excluding zero-value trades).
D2O Price at posting:
$1.45 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
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