The Federal Government has released the first-ever register outlining foreign ownership of water entitlements and the Conservative Party’s South Australian Senate candidate Rikki Lambert says the percentage of Chinese ownership is of great concern.
The ABC reports, the register shows one in 10 entitlements is foreign-owned and Riverland grape grower Jack Papageorgiou says there is an unfair playing field between people trying to make a living and international investors trying to make money.
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud insists that at the moment, there is only a small percentage of water owned by foreign interests and much of that is by one station in Queensland.
But Rikki has told ABC Radio, investment from China is worrying because of issues surrounding state sovereignty, with more than 1,800 gigalitres of foreign-held water entitlements within the Murray-Darling Basin.
