Law and policy of the Murray-Darling Basin

Submission note: Thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Juridical Science to the La Trobe Law School, La Trobe University, Victoria.

This thesis explores the discrepancy between what is needed to achieve sustainable use of water in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), and what has been done, and between the aspirations embodied in legislation and the realities surrounding their implementation. To demonstrate this the thesis documents short-term social and economic federal and state government action in response to resistance by irrigator groups to the implementation of sustainability measures. The thesis looks at tensions surrounding the competing approaches of prioritising the environment versus the triple bottom line and discusses the questionable lawfulness of the Basin Plan having regard to the basis upon which it was prepared. The thesis will analyse why irrigator groups resisted the Basin Plan and why it was always likely that their shared interests would prevail over environmentalism. The thesis argues that environmental sustainability is compatible with a conservative view of property rights and that the feasibility of a sustainable MDB depends upon a duty to pay compensation to irrigators adversely affected by the Basin Plan.