<
https://theconversation.com/water-theft-laws-and-penalties-in-the-murray-darling-basin-are-a-dogs-breakfast-heres-how-we-can-fix-them-227862>
"Water is one of Australia’s most valuable commodities. Rights to take water
from our nation’s largest river system, the Murray-Darling Basin, are worth
almost A$100 billion. These rights can be bought and sold or leased, with trade
exceeding A$2 billion a year. But water is also being stolen (no-one knows how
much) and the thieves usually get away with it.
The federal Labor government came to power promising to crack down on water
theft in the Murray-Darling Basin. The Productivity Commission has also
expressed concerns about a lack of compliance and enforcement.
The Inspector General of Water Compliance, Troy Grant, has also described
existing powers to deter theft as ineffective, and called for urgent action to
address inconsistencies in the various state laws that penalise theft from the
Murray-Darling Basin. That was almost a year ago.
In our new research, we identified the many relevant laws operating in the
basin. We examined these laws and found maximum penalties range wildly. It is a
dog’s breakfast. Surely we can do better."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
