Water Crisis - Australia

Water has often been taken for granted by government, businesses and society, and has been considered an inexhaustible natural resource.

Without it life would simply cease to exist.

There are growing concerns for the supply of water in the future, some thinking it has been left far too late. Governments have a responsibility to make sure this invaluable resource can be sustained efficiently now and in the future.

Water legislation and town planning are just some of the responsibilities for the government in power, as well as always making sure this vital natural resource is available to every person within society.

Business relies on water for a vast amount of operations and activities, while some businesses use this resource for revenue and profit making, such as Coca Cola Amatil producing Mt Franklin mineral water to consumers. Coca Cola website, accessed 3/05/2007 http://www.ccamatil.com/australianProducts.asp

A lack of water can have its greatest effect on society, as everyone living in the community is affected, especially people who are in less developed countries or on a lower income.

As water is such a vital part of life, the problems that South East Queensland is now facing shows the lack of communication and organization of governments in this country.

After researching this topic from different news and media sources, there are some differences and similarities between them.

Channel 7 News on Thursday May 3rd discusses the Melbourne dams reaching levels below 30% for the 2nd time since 1968. They concentrated on the criticism by the opposition for the main duration of the news cast magnifying the opinion’s of Ted Baillieu, the state opposition leader as a “symbol of failure” and the government being ridiculed after 8 years of power for not having a water strategy in place, with Steve Bracks, the Victorian Premier defending his position and commitment to Victoria’s water supply. This was a negative outlook of the water issue overall by Channel 7.

The blog on Courier Mails website has a majority of the viewers stating that we all should be doing our own part to rectify the water crisis and part of the solution can be found in our own backyard, and not to completely rely on the government. Raven Jones’s of Paddington blog posted on Thursday 29th March 07:31am quotes “Since when are resources limitless?” “Don’t we as individuals also have a huge responsibility to give daily consideration to continent on Earth?” http://blogs.news.com.au/couriermail/vitalinterest/index.php/couriermail/comments/our_water_crisis

In an article in the Financial Review Friday 23rd April 2007 page 6, PM Mr. John Howard is quoted “but we would like the states to kick in a bit as well” referring to the 2 billion dollar draught relief program, with the opinion being that the national government is doing it’s bit but does not see the state governments pulling the weight of their responsibility to resolve this water crisis.

A journal extract written by Martin Painter states that the Australian Federal system resembles a complex machine with those seeking to manage it must often devise their own intergovernmental arrangements just to make it work, leaning towards federalism being part of the problem with this countries governments.

This gives the opinion of the two tiered government becoming a burden for the complex legislation and ruling of this country, causing negative issues within society as the water crisis now facing Australia’s population, businesses and governments.

Collaborative Federalism: Economic Reform in Australia in the 1990’s Robert J Williams. Pacific Affairs. Vancouver: Summer 2000. Vol 73 Iss 2 page 317 Reviewing by Martin Painter

In a journal Federalism and Australia’s Future by Stone, John sourced from Australia & World Affairs; autumn 1998 Issue 36 page 5 ;

discusses that federalism is central to the future of this country if it is to have a successful future because this political ideology is about distribution of power and fairness for all.

Distribution of power is considered an advantage causing not one body to have absolute ruling, though in the previous journal this distribution of power is seen as a complex issue needing careful attention to work in advantage for this country.

After researching this issue, it has become evident that the federalism political ideology is present.

Due to federalism and the separation of powers within this country in 1901, there are often difficulties in communicating and initiating national, uniform plans, especially the water crisis currently on hand with the Australian government.

Federalism is the division of power between two tiers of government through a written constitution, the powers divided between the national government and the state governments. N.Ryan R.Parker K.Brown Government Business and Society, Pearson Education French Forest 2003 Page 286

Looking at this crisis, it is obvious that there has been a disregard and passing on of responsibilities between the different authorities of the government.

Questions have been raised concerning the water crisis as to who should be rectifying the problem. When a state’s water supply dries up and threatens the future of the particular state is it the states responsibility to look after itself or should the national government have been taking responsibility for this important issue all along?

Until there is coherence and clear understanding between the two powers, there will always be a blur of responsibility towards the other side as there is not one clear unitary system in this country.

GOVERNMENT

The major players directly affected by this water crisis are of course the government in power at the time, which is John Howard representing the Liberal party.

At a time when the Australian people are beginning to compare John Howard to the current opposition Kevin Rudd, there is a monumental effect of the people’s views on government,