Retelling Australia's Water Story

Successive governments have claimed that despite (or because of) Australia’s ‘droughts and flooding rains’, we are a world leader in water management. They have highlighted such successes as the 2004 National Water Initiative, robust water rights, ‘highly efficient’ irrigation infrastructure, basin planning, and the delivery of ‘safe’ drinking water to urban Australia.

However, the NWI barely mentions climate change; hugely valuable tradeable water rights were initially gifted to irrigators, with precious little allocated to Indigenous Australians. ‘Efficient’ irrigators extract large volumes of upstream water even during drought, causing downstream communities to run out. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of Australians in rural and remote communities endure poor-quality water from their taps.

It’s high time to call out the mistruths and the post-truths and retell Australia’s water story. In Retelling Australia's Water Story, Quentin Grafton explains how, from 1788 onwards, those in power have treated fresh water as a resource to be exploited rather than cared for. Over-extraction and misuse mean that Australia can now have too much, too little, or too dirty water. Because of business-as-usual practices and climate change, these water crises will worsen unless we apply made-in-Australia solutions that involve a rethink of how we value, measure, and allocate water.

Pathways to a better water future include leaving sufficient water in the landscape to sustain people and Country, respecting First Law, which sustained living waters for millennia, ensuring all communities, not just those with water rights, are actively involved in water decision-making, and prioritising the human right to water for all Australians.