High Court gives green light to State funding agreements under the National Water Initiative

In Arnold v Minister Administering the Water Management Act 2000 [2010] HCA 3, the High Court confirmed that the cancellation of bore water licences and their replacement with aquifer access licences as part of the National Water Initiative was not an 'acquisition of property' for the purposes of the Commonwealth Constitution. The Court also held that the funding arrangements which provide upfront ex-gratia payments to licensees who had reduced water entitlements were constitutionally sound. The decision should ease the rollout by State governments of the National Water Initiative and other funding arrangements relating to natural resources.

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