Water Act 2007

A person must not engage in conduct that has or is likely to have the effect of creating, or causing the creation of, a false or misleading appearance:

of active trading in a market for eligible tradeable water rights; or

with respect to the market for, or the price for trading in, eligible tradeable water rights.

For the purposes of subsection (1), a person is taken to have created a false or misleading appearance of active trading in markets for eligible tradeable water rights if:

the person makes an offer (the regulated offer) to acquire or dispose of eligible tradeable water rights; and

the regulated offer is to acquire or to dispose of eligible tradeable water rights at a specified price; and

the person has made or proposes to make, or knows that an associate of the person has made or proposes to make:

if the regulated offer is an offer to acquire—an offer to dispose of; or

if the regulated offer is an offer to dispose of—an offer to acquire;

The circumstances in which a person creates a false or misleading appearance of active trading in a market for eligible tradeable water rights are not limited to the circumstances set out in this subsection.

In considering whether a person has created a false or misleading appearance of active trading in markets for eligible tradeable water rights, regard may be had to:

whether a trade or transfer of eligible tradeable water rights involved, or did not involve, a change in the beneficial ownership of the eligible tradeable water rights; and

if a trade or transfer of eligible tradeable water rights did not involve a change in the beneficial ownership of the eligible tradeable water rights—whether there was a genuine purpose for the trade or transfer.