What kind of a market for what kind of water? Geographical perspectives on Murray-Darling water reform

摘要

The overarching premise of Murray-Darling water reform is that the creation of tradable entitlements will enable water to flow to its most valued use. This assertion however represents a simplistic metaphor for a far more complex reality. The use values of Murray-Darling water are not fungible across space. Traded water can be applied to land for productive purposes only in the context of a thick institutional landscape of regulatory requirements and land asset capabilities. This paper argues that these frictions have not been given adequate consideration in the prevailing research and policy discourse about water reform. A geographical perspective, emphasising the constructed nature of space and scale within markets, remedies these shortcomings.