11th August 2011

"It seems that under Labor, science allegedly rules in the climate change debate but politics prevails in the water debate. The Knowles package will be sold as optimising social and economic outcomes as well as the environment. No wonder the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists is alarmed and the Greens are unhappy. Direct action in the form of infrastructure spending and buy-backs is acceptable in the water space but not in dealing with climate change.": The Australian, 11th August 2011.

FWU comment:

If the atmosphere was considered a commodity, there is little doubt that science would take a back seat in the climate debate too . . . .

All major parties, including the Greens, seem blind to the fact that, under the current process of water reform, any Basin Plan will be a compromised and cynical document.

As long as water is perceived as being a commodity, pro-marketeers will continue to promote the argument  that the environment is a competitor, rather than an a provider of essential ecosystem services worth many billions of dollars annually to those who derive income from the Basin.

Privatisation, a pillar of water reform, will continue to obstruct any sincere attempt to turn around the degradation of the Murray-Darling.