The water management regime was one in which water was a common good, water rights were tied to land titles, entitlements to water varied depending on climatic conditions and the distribution of water was heavily subsidised. Underpinning this regime was a water sharing agreement between South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria to build a network of dams, weirs, locks and barrages that gave some degree of security of supply. Decision making about water management was the preserve of institution in the public utilities tradition.
This pro-development water management regime that promoted increased water use had a long history of ignoring science water management regime lasted until the National Water Initiative in the 1990s, then the Water Act in2007. This regime had resulted in a severely modified river system with extensive environmental degradation and destruction.
The neo-liberal response to the crisis in the Basin caused by destructive European agricultural practices was to cap the extractions, commodify water, create a national water market that was largely self-regulating, allow permanent water trading between the states and buy up existing water for environmental flows.
Nourishing Terrains 
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