In the opinion piece, Prof. Young discusses Australia’s commitment to water policy from the 1990’s including a permanent water cap placed on water used from the Murray-Darling Basin. These reforms helped navigate the drought which followed, known in the ‘millennium drought’.
However, after the drought the policy was updated to the 2004 the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. the plan was inconsistent with many of the national water initiative’s requirements. In 2014 the federal government shut down the National Water Commission, which was established to oversee implementation of the national water initiative.
Prof. Young points out the flaws in this decision, with the basin plan not covering all forms of water use and serious problems with measuring water use and replenishment. Read the full article in The Australian.