Thanks, Selwyn Johnston for writing this article, although I am a little disappointed that you have not unequivocally come out against privatisation.

Winston Smith wrote: (http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=4136#30959) "Allocating (water) through a free market is not only fairer and more efficient, but also mitigates against shortages, and requires minimal regulation."

Garbage!

Give us one example where water supply is not a monopoly, whether public or privately.

In the Chapter "Farming and food" of "The Final Energy Crisis" (http://www.population.org.au/misc/furtherreading.htm#bkmckillop), Edward Goldsmith writes,"... wherever (privatisation) happens its price automatically rises. In the Indian state of Orissa, according to Vandana Shiva, water prices have increased tenfold, and are now way beyond the means of small farmers."

In the Netherlands and Uruguay, it is illegal to privatise water (see MS Word document, http://www.population.org.au/misc/furtherreading.htm#bkmckillop).

It's a pity that these laws have not been enacted in Australia. If they had been then 'Labor' State Premiers Iemma and Bracks, together with John Howard, would now be behind bars for their current efforts to privatise the Snowy Hydro-Electric scheme.

My apologies.

The link to the Microsoft Word Document, which discussed the enactment of legislation in the Netherlands and Uruguay to outlaw the privatisation of water should have been http://www.psiru.org/reports/2004-11-W-crim.doc

A Google html-ised version can be found by using the search terms:

Netherlands Uruguay water privatisation

See also "Uruguay Votes YES to ban Water Privatisation" at http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=67283

An article on how, in April 2005, Belgium has followed the positive examples of Uruguay and the Netherelands can be found at : http://www.eausecours.org/partie%20anglophone/Express-%C3%94/belgium.htm

Wikipedia article on water privatisation at :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_privatization#Anti-water-privatization_campaigns

Selwyn

Thank you for your interesting and timely article.

And thank you to all posters. Very interesting reading.

Cheers
Kay

Kay

Indeed it is all interesting stuff. OLO was a wonderful find for me, three months ago.

.
I am pleased to see that opinion is overwhelmingly against the privatisation of water.

But what is this going to count for? The decision-makers are going to listen to the big companies that have the big millions to pump straight into the government coffers when they ‘buy’ our water.

Those pollies will then use some of that money to do things that will get them re-elected and claim total responsibility for them – ‘nothing to do with the money, just our really good initiatives’.

The opposition is just the same as the incumbent mob. So when it comes to the next election, the voter simply doesn’t have a meaningful choice. With the compulsory preferential system, even if they do put the incumbents and the opposition last and second last, their vote will end up counting for one of them anyway, in the vast majority of cases.

With our system of pseudodemocracy, in fact antidemocracy, dominant public opinion often doesn’t count for boo, especially when there is big money involved…. and how often is that?

Perseus, has the right idea – we should all try to become as self-sufficient with water as possible. But as Pericles points out, this is simply impossible for a lot of us. So we will still need to be tied into a public system.

One of the most fundamental roles of government is to mitigate the profit motive and balance it against the negative effects it has on the greater community. Putting more and more power into the hands of the vested-interest lobbies is not only antidemocratic, it is anti-government, in all its forms. We need to strive for a strong government that is not under the thumb of big business and that is accountable to the people. Until we get that, we can expect the continuation of this privatisation momentum, which will progressively favour the already rich and powerful and suppress the rest of us.

How usless and impotent our Govts have become.They cripple private enterprise nationally with $86 billion in red tape pa.They tax the incentive out work,make it easy to get on welfare and wonder why there is a labour shortage.Due to all these tax burdens there is no money for infrastructure or health.

So strapped for cash,they start selling off public assets that could earn them long term income if managed correctly.But hey,that requires discipline,managerial skills and long therm planning.

In NSW we have had the worst Govt in living memory.They have failed in every respect of providing basic services and infrastructure.They let the growth of the Public Service spiral out of control,and the cost of redundancies is just too great to sack them.The Govt waste on spin Doctors and consultants is mind numbing.Now they are looking for short term fixes to get themselves out of trouble,like selling the Snowy Mts Scheme just so the debt ledger looks balanced.We are already in serious debt,it is called infrastructure debt and it is serverely hampering our economic growth.Guess what,less economic growth means less taxes.

More short term thinking and lots of long term pain.If they do privatise our water,simply put in a tank since if you live on the Coast,enough water falls on your roof to supply 75% of your annual needs.

In Sydney for many years it was illegal to own a water tank. A water tank is the ultimate form of private water. And now they make it compulsory on all new developments. Apparently if it's not illegal then it has to be compuslory. Governments are so weird!

Water is essential to life. However so is food and nearly 100% of the food we eat is produces by the private sector. I don't hear much call for the nationalisation of farms (except in Zimbabwe).

I am not that bullish on privatising the water supply. There are more important reforms (like tax and welfare cuts). However I am not intrinsically opposed.