| Since the closing years of the 1980s, Australia has adopted structural adjustment policies designed to foster economic liberalism based on the market system. Today, there is little economic protection for Australian agriculture and Australia is a persistent advocate of free international agricultural trade. The natural Australian environment is not very favourable for agriculture because of low and erratic levels of rainfall and poor soils. Scarcity of water in Australia is growing and its use has become a major natural resource issue. Water availability and use of water by Australian agriculture is discussed, its environmental impacts are considered and the scope for using market systems to allocate water effectively are discussed. Other... |
