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ANU experts take the politics out of water with the release today of an analysis of the Federal Government’s $10 billion national water security plan, warning of the risk of wasting public money and potential social justice consequences if careful economic and social policy analysis and planning isn’t undertaken before the money is spent.

In Dry Water, Professor Quentin Grafton argues that while the national water plan is a step forward toward a better water future, there is a real risk with a big-spending program of misdirecting money that might otherwise be used for greater public good.

Professor Grafton argues this means the Government will need to resist self-interested calls by irrigators to direct public investments into projects that generate the highest net private, rather than public, benefit. He says the Government will also need to take a careful approach to the buyback of water entitlements or, if there has been an over allocation of water entitlements, it may find itself buying back ‘dry water’ – of no benefit to the public or the environment.

In a brief on Water and the Environment, Professor Jeff Bennett asks ‘Is $10 billion too much, too little or just the right amount to spend on a national plan for water security and is 500 gigalitres too much, too little or just the right amount of additional water to release down the Murray River? He argues the correct answers to those questions won’t be known until the costs and benefits of allocating water to the environment are calculated.

Professor Bennett argues that without information on the values of ecosystem services, government decisions regarding water allocations are more likely to be influenced by the lobbying of vested interest groups, rather than by the goal of improved societal well-being.

In her contribution, Dr Karen Hussey explores the social policy aspects of water policy, warning that water trading could see small- and medium-sized producers squeezed out of the market, and less efficient producers exiting the market, taking with them the viability of rural community infrastructure such as banks and schools. For urban communities, the introduction of pricing signals could disadvantage lower income earners. Dr Hussey warns of the significant need to incorporate a human rights and a social justice dimension in the policy analysis.