Equity, fairness and justice in water policy reform

Australia's water policy reforms of the last 30 years have prioritised efficiency gains from microeconomic reform alongside limited return of water to the environment and Indigenous cultural use. These reforms have met resistance often underpinned by narratives that reforms have been unfair and unjust.

 

While some policy agreements and legislation (e.g. the National Water Initiative, the Water Act 2007 or the Water Management Act 2000 (NSW)) mention equity or fairness, they offer little guidance on how to integrate these concepts into policy making. Our project seeks to fill this gap by showing how water policy design and delivery processes can be improved by including explicit consideration of, and deliberation on, ideas of equity, fairness and justice. 

Our goal is not to provide policymakers with an optimal definition and prescription of equity and fairness. Instead, we aim to provide a broad range of participants in policy decision-making processes with approaches that can help improve negotiation and engagement among those with competing and sometimes incompatible ideas of what equity, justice and fairness mean.

Policymakers and water managers have expressed interest in this project, particularly as it relates to the upcoming Basin Plan evaluation and refresh of the National Water Initiative. The project will maintain ongoing engagement with policymakers and stakeholders to deliver outputs that can inform these policy processes.

We have started by seeking to understand how different stakeholders define equity, fairness and justice when it comes to water policy. We want to learn how geography, history, economics, politics and culture influence how people think about equity, fairness and justice.

We are particularly interested in how these perceptions might change as uneven climate change impacts become more apparent; and we want to make sure First Nations' perspectives are also included.

While we are taking a national perspective, the extent of past and future reforms in the Murray-Darling Basin will mean a sizeable focus in this area.

By fostering dialogue and understanding of the different ways equity, fairness and justice are understood we believe we can contribute to better water policy decision-making processes and more enduring policy outcomes.

We want to show how water policy design and delivery processes can be improved by including explicit consideration of, and deliberation on, ideas of equity, fairness and justice.

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