Barnaby Joyce approved plan to chase $80m water buyback, documents show
Written by Anne Davies
Federal government pushed plan to buy a portion of water entitlements rather than adopt Queensland proposal to purchase two farms and all water rights
The former agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce approved a controversial change of strategy in his department which led to the purchase of low reliability water entitlements for “a record” $80m from a company with links to a fellow minister, new documents obtained by Guardian Australia show.
The 2017 purchase of water from the Cayman Islands-based Eastern Australia Agriculture has been in the news since the Guardian revealed the energy minister, Angus Taylor, had been a director of the company before entering parliament in 2013.
Related: Questions over companies chosen for $200m of Murray-Darling water buybacks
Related: Angus Taylor's Oxford rowing mate's company was a beneficiary of $80m water deal
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