Chaired by Michael West

“Water policy is hard,” says Malcolm Turnbull, subject as it is to so many fiercely competing interests. Scott Hamilton and Stuart Kells interviewed many of these interests for their book, Sold Down the River: How Robber Barons and Wall Street Traders Cornered Australia’s Water Market. Opening the trade in water was supposed to make its allocation more efficient, but as the authors show, it has created a whole host of perverse outcomes. They demonstrate how we have failed to protect our most precious resource.