Australia must be diligent and committed to strengthening productivity and food security if it is to underwrite the needs of a population projected to reach 45 million within two decades.
The question is whether this week’s Economic Reform Roundtable will meaningfully address that challenge, or become yet another politically motivated talkfest.
In a nation defined by droughts and flooding rains, a coherent national water policy must sit at the heart of long-term planning.
Yet, the Albanese Government’s vision remains tethered to the existing Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) Plan, a framework that is, at its core, an environmental policy.
It is not a plan for national resilience, food security, food affordability, or regional productivity.
The current investment thesis is fundamentally upside-down.
Billions of taxpayer dollars are being spent to buy back productive water licenses, displacing food production and increasing reliance on imported foods.
This directly conflicts with the government’s stated ambitions: to reduce national debt, advance net-zero goals, lower the cost of living, and grow regional economies.
At the pinnacle of the Roundtable’s agenda, and the wider agriculture policy agenda, should be water.
Current water policy is crucifying productivity in our nation’s food bowl, placing Australia at serious social risk when the next drought arrives.
Without urgent reform, the outcome will be inflated food prices, lost regional jobs, and reduced national resilience.
Water policy and management have never been at a lower point in Australia.
That must change if this country is serious about prosperity, productivity, and food security for future generations.
Yours etc.
David Farley
Deputy chair of Speak Up
8°C