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Abstract
The National Water Initiative and earlier water reforms have committed
Australian governments to redressing environmental degradation caused by
excessive extraction from rivers and groundwater systems. To date, the
states, territories and commonwealth have identified a range of alternatives
for achieving the requisite resource re-allocation. Unfortunately, there has
been a predilection amongst policy makers to treat voluntary acquisition of
access rights from irrigators as a ‘last resort’ in the suite of options. This
paper explores the rationale for this approach and questions the use of
incomplete information by bureaucrats, policy makers and water lobby groups
in this context.