Robert Borsak, the leader of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party, came out to Griffith to chair the inquiry, hearing from witnesses about their own experiences with water trading and what they thought needed to be done about the state of the industry.

Cate Faehrmann from the Greens Party served as deputy chairwoman of the inquiry - the pair supported by members from the ALP, Liberal Party and Nationals.

Issues raised included non-landholders buying up water to hold onto and sell, as well as a lack of transparency surrounding the current water registry. Delivery fees for water users but not water holders was also brought up as an issue.

"It seems absurd that landholders, who in times of drought and are reliant on traded water which is not available, are required to pay a prescribed fee for water. Yet, concurrently, water traders profit significantly for the lack of availability of water," reads a submission from Greg Adamson.

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Jamie Park was one of the first witnesses to come forward and share their thoughts, and railed against people 'hiding' water in non-landholder accounts to avoid paying fees and financially contributing to the investment - drawing on his own experience selling water and land thirteen years ago.

Another witness Joy Boucher also pushed for an independent regulator to cover the water trading industry - separate from NRAR.

"They can regulate any abuse of the allocations ... Right now, people can have more delivery entitlements than they have water. We need one regulator," Ms Boucher said.

The environmental impacts were also of noted concern, particularly by Lloyd Polkinghorne - deputy Chairman of the Speak Up Campaign.

"Farmers rely on the water, but people with no attachment to the land are buying water and holding water," Mr Polkinghorne said.

The hearing was followed by a public forum on August 16, at the theatre.

Information from the forum will go back to Parliament in Sydney and be collected into a report as the inquiry continues.

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