Tapping the Turn: the social dimensions of water management

Abstract

The history of Australian water policy development and management, including service delivery, is dominated by a positivist scientific-technical approach (Smith 1998). One consequence of this domination is the separation of people from the environment, as recognised by the authors of this edition's first paper who argue that "the idea of separating people from the environment seems to be present in the world-view of current Australian government agencies" (Lukasiewicz et al. 2013, p. ???).

The constraining effect of incomplete contracts on the public reporting of waste management data

“…(Interviewee 3) I can't see anything really that if it impacts on community through local government that shouldn't be open … they shouldn't have a profit motive, because I think then … you get sort of shady business deals. (Interviewee 4) Demand for transparent, quality environmental data to meet social expectations acknowledges the existence of social transaction costs beyond financial outflows (Harriden and Graymore 2013). Attempts to quantify the full cost of waste disposal to landfill through levies, considering the social contract dimension of the process, are highly contested in Tasmania (Hyder Consulting 2011; Bel, Fageda, and Warner 2014).…”