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THE HOWARD‐TURNBULL NATIONAL PLAN FOR WATER SECURITY OF JANUARY 2007: RESCUE OR REJECTION?
Author(s) -
WATSON ALISTAIR
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
economic papers: a journal of applied economics and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.245
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1759-3441
pISSN - 0812-0439
DOI - 10.1111/j.1759-3441.2008.tb01033.x
Subject(s) - legislation , liberian dollar , investment (military) , opposition (politics) , plan (archaeology) , public administration , government (linguistics) , business , private sector , environmental planning , finance , political science , economic policy , law , politics , geography , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology
A ten‐point, ten‐year, ten billion dollar National Plan for Water Security was announced by the (then) Howard Government in January 2007. The Plan was supported by State governments, with the exception of Victoria. The (then) Opposition supported legislation in August 2007 to implement the Plan. The main part of the Plan was investment in off‐farm and on‐farm irrigation infrastructure, ostensibly to promote water use efficiency. A smaller programme was proposed for buyback of irrigation water for environmental purposes. Various economic criteria would favour the opposite emphasis. Investment by governments in private irrigation infrastructure goes against the spirit of other recent policy changes and, for economic and technical reasons, is unlikely to achieve its objectives. Buyback for environmental purposes should continue, subject to appropriate procedures and discipline in the selection of environmental projects. Recent developments highlight continuing controversies over policy and administration of the Murray‐Darling Basin.