Alfred Deakin and Water Resources Politics in Australia

Abstract

This article considers Alfred Deakin’s role in the formation of Victorian water legislation and how the knowledge he developed on the subject later informed the federal water policy debate. Deakin’s formative years in colonial politics and his role in the creation of water policy are examples of where he first imparted the philosophy of state action to encourage economic and social outcomes. In the Victorian parliament he engaged in a fundamental debate about the future of that colony’s development and firmly established the foundations of later legislative and administrative action over water resources. Deakin’s initiatives represented a specific form of social liberalism that incorporated a broader developmental agenda. Furthermore, Deakin’s approach to water resources policy informed and influenced his contemporaries throughout the federation movement and in the newly formed Commonwealth parliament.This article has been peer-reviewed.