New thinking on water policy

Some may say this will never happen. But if we reflect on social change in the last century, change has a way of evolving before our very eyes and attitudes to industry, community development and human rights have certainly changed.

It is huge task to gain a balanced position between:

• the demands of agriculture, the price of water trading and the management of environmental flows of rivers;
• the desalinisation of water and improved management and re-use of our stormwater; and
• the effective cross border management of water between all stakeholders including local councils, international lawyers, trade agreements, and global companies.

I am advocating a change which may be perceived by many as impossible. However sometimes it takes strong leadership and even political solutions and action for us to be open to, or at least thinking about a path forward that no other has trod before.

So lets all go back to baby brain gym and give it a try, so that we can get the picture together as a whole, both the maths and the creative. This is an issue of understanding interdependence and it is stalling many other critical social and environmental policy issues beyond water policy, including health, regional development, and so on.