History repeating: the South Austral Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission

摘要

In late 2017, then-Premier Jay Weatherill announced that South Australia would establish a Royal Commission to investigate "water theft" from the Murray-Darling Basin in the upstream states.~1 The Premier's announcement came after The Murray-Darling Basin Water Compliance Review - conducted by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) and the Inde-pendent Review Panel - revealed lack of a culture of compliance with water licences in some regions in the upstream states, particularly in Queensland and New South Wales.~2 Prominent Sydney barrister, Bret Walker SC, was appointed Royal Commissioner and the Royal Commission formally commenced its work on 23 January 2018. The work of the Royal Commission has given rise to important legal questions surrounding the construction of the Water Act 2007 (Cth) and the powers of the Commissioner to summons persons to give evidence and produce documents. This article examines these issues and situates the work of the Royal Commission in South Australia's 130-year battle with the upstream states over the waters of the Murray-Darling Basin.