New bans on water market manipulation and insider trading now in force

New prohibitions on market manipulation and insider trading in Murray-Darling Basin water markets commenced on 1 July 2026 under the Water Act 2007, completing the ACCC's enforcement functions under the Restoring Our Rivers reforms. The reforms respond to concerns about market conduct, transparency and confidence in Basin water markets identified by the ACCC's earlier Water Markets Inquiry.

The market manipulation prohibitions make it illegal to manipulate or distort the price of eligible tradeable water rights, create a false appearance of active trading, make false offers, trades or transfers that affect market prices, or spread information about such conduct. The insider trading prohibitions make it illegal to trade or transfer eligible tradeable water rights, or decide not to, while aware of inside information likely to have a significant impact on price or value, and to communicate such information to someone knowing it will affect their trading decisions. Information is generally treated as inside information where it has not been available to the public for long enough and is material in the sense that its disclosure would be reasonably likely to influence trading behaviour. Alongside these prohibitions, water markets decision-makers, including government agencies and irrigation infrastructure operators, must now announce relevant decisions and keep detailed records, supported by the existing intermediaries code and statutory trust accounting framework applying to water brokers.

The ACCC can investigate suspected contraventions using compulsory information-gathering powers and has a range of enforcement options available, including administrative resolutions, court enforceable undertakings, infringement notices and court action seeking penalties or other orders. Water brokers, agribusinesses and irrigation infrastructure operators active in Basin water trading are directly affected, and the ACCC has encouraged market participants to report suspected manipulation or insider trading so it can investigate.