Howard is not failing his mates on water policy.When the smart money has figured out how to maximise profits from the buying and selling of water futures and options, when ownership of water is cornered by Turnbull's mates in the stockmarket and the banks have a stranglehold on all land 20 klms either side of all the rivers in Australia then the spin will stop.Game over. Should take another year or two as progress in this direction is well advanced.

While i can agree with Bruce that Howard will use the issue to spin the public and wedge the opposition, I expected a bit more substance in this post. Labor has now offered to buy back licences, presumeably at market prices and that it take over federally. Is this a goer?
The idea of an independent water commission to advise the Government sounds reasonable, but what powers would it have? If like the Productivity Commission then the Government can simply ignore the findings of commissioned studies, such as the PC's wide ranging findings on land management practices a few years ago. Their call for a legally binding 'duty of care' of landowners toward their acreage didn't get much attention from Howard's lot. this drought and climate change almost make it necessary for such a water commission to have powers equivalent to the Reserve Bank board setting interest (re:water) rates and more.

What water crisis? The number of new arrivals is well over 100,000 so the federal government is oblivious to any water crisis.

I wonder what Mr Rudd would do? Some years ago he was party to cancelling the Wolfenden Dam proposal in south east Queensland.If this hadn't happened the present water crisis in this area wouldn't have occurred.

This article should have simply been titled "Howard is failing Australia on Policy"

Thankyou for the comments.The issue of the sustainable use of water in Australia really should be placed above politics.It should fall into the same category as the 500 year and ongoing program of the Dutch to reclaim and protect low lying land from the sea.
In my opinion the sustainable use of water is the single biggest challenge facing our nation and should be addressed as such.
Australians have the innovative capacity and strength of character to solve this issue.
I look to the federal government to provide the leadership to adress this issue but maybe that is a vain hope and perhaps a vain hope from both sides of politics.
I thought I had made a case for a stand alone organisation to address the issue of the sustainable use of water.
But let me reiterate, in my opinion we need an organisation of substance and independence to address and provide policy options over a considerable period of time.Whether this is an enhanced division of the CSIRO or a new organisation matters little except that in the now politicised public service environment of John Howard it should (must) be independent.
I have quite strong thoughts on what I think should be done but as I have seen I am only one amongst many and there are many with better ideas.
My only contribution to this debate but one which is strongly held and heart felt is that a structure is needed to recieve our ideas and to do and asses the research.
If this cannot be done by government then perhaps we should look to see how it might be achieved outside of government.
Its a fine line jup.I don't think an overly prescriptive or directional organisation is the answer but it may well come to that.
I would really like our parliamentary process to pick up on the research and to turn it into workable outcomes supported by legislation.
Bruce Haigh