16-07-2025
Award-winning cotton grower John Norman jailed over $8.7 million water fraud
Former Australian cotton grower of the year John Norman has been sentenced to a maximum of nine and a half years in prison over his role in one of Australia's most significant water frauds.
After a complex police investigation, seven years of backroom legal wrangling, and an eventual guilty plea, Brisbane District Court Judge Bernard Porter described the case as a "wide-ranging fraud" that had "exploited" small family businesses.
Between 2010 and 2016, John Norman and his former chief financial officer pressured contractors to alter invoices — or changed invoices themselves — to fraudulently claim millions of dollars from a government scheme.
As part of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, the Queensland government's Healthy Headwaters program was designed to encourage farmers to invest in water efficiency measures.
Funded by the Commonwealth, it allowed irrigators to apply for money to improve irrigation infrastructure on their properties in exchange for a portion of the water savings being transferred to the government for environmental use.
The court heard Norman received almost $20 million through the scheme, including $8.7 million in fraudulent claims.
Judge Porter said the fraud had brought the Healthy Headwaters scheme into disrepute and undermined faith in regulators.
The case is understood to be among the most significant water frauds prosecuted in Australia.
