Water Policy in New Zealand and Australia: We're not playing for tiddlywinks

Abstract

The allocation of water resources between competing demands from agriculture, industry, energy, the environment and urban uses is an increasingly contentious issue in New Zealand. As a result there is a growing interest in the design of policies for better allocating water and policies for promoting the efficient use of water. For many decades governments in Australia have sought to develop and implement policies to promote the optimal allocation and efficient use of water. A wide variety of policies including regulatory, voluntary and market based approaches have been tried and significant modifications and improvement have been made to these policies over time. The experience in Australia has been that the transfer of water between agricultural uses occurs much more slowly than was originally expected. One reason for this is the importance of the reliability of water supply as a key contextual determinant of the feasibility and viability of different agricultural uses of water. While water supplies in NZ may be more reliable than in Australia, reliability can and does change as a result of changes in the rules governing the allocation of water. The experience in Australia with regards to promoting efficient use of water in agriculture is that farmers consider a wide range of needs and contextual factors when making decisions about adopting practices to improve water use efficiency (Armstrong 2004; Kaine & Bewsell 2002a; Burrows et al. 2002). Such decisions involve balancing a complex combination of human, production, environmental, economic and financial components of the farm business (Makeham & Malcolm 1993). Experience in Australia also shows that when they do act, farmers modify the practices or technology to ensure they meet the key needs of their farm business (Armstrong 2002; Kaine & Bewsell 2000a, 2000b, 2001, 2002b). Hence, when regulatory or forced change occurs farmers respond in a wide range of ways - many of which are unpredictable to the policy maker and at least some of which are not consistent with the intention of the regulation. These are deliberate and sensible reactions on the part of farmers given their farm contexts. Consequently, government in NZ needs a sophisticated understanding of farming systems and farm contexts if they are to experience fewer surprises and more successes with their initiatives in water policy. Keywords: farm systems, irrigation, water policy