Public sector watchdog to probe controversial multimillion-dollar water purchase

A multimillion-dollar purchase of water will be investigated by the public sector watchdog as the Coalition attempts to bring Labor into the controversy.

A multimillion-dollar purchase of water will be investigated by the public sector watchdog as the Coalition attempts to bring Labor into the controversy.

The Coalition is under pressure to explain why it paid $79 million to Eastern Australia Agriculture in return for 28.7 gigalitres of floodwater from two Queensland properties.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce signed off on the deal with EAA, which has a parent company based in the well known tax haven of the Cayman Islands.

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Former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce signed off on the now controversial deal. Picture: AAP

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud on Tuesday asked the auditor-general to review all taxpayer-funded water buybacks under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan since 2008.

The move means a suite of water purchases approved by the former Labor government will also be probed.

It came after the Herald Sun reported EAA donated $55,000 to the Liberal Party in the lead-up to the 2013 federal election.

“I’ll be asking the auditor-general to look at all purchases of all political persuasions over the last period since 2008 to make sure that we can give confidence to the community,” Mr Littleproud said.

Water experts have raised doubts about whether the deal represented “value for money”, while Labor hasn’t ruled out calling for a royal commission into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the Department of Agriculture needed to provide all the un-redacted documents relating to the deals to the auditor-general’s review.

“Not with a big texta marking out all the interesting details but the fair dinkum paperwork, without the redactions, without the secret squirrel business which this government loves,” Mr Shorten said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison dismissed suggestions there was anything wrong with Eastern Australia Agriculture donating $55,000 to the Liberal Party four years before the sale.

The PM said he was confident Mr Joyce acted appropriately.

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