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In historical terms, Australian regional water policy has hinged on the assumption that fresh water was predominantly an input factor into agricultural and industrial production processes in the hinterland and consequently an important determinant of regional development. For this reason, regional water policy was primarily seen as a tool for stimulating regional economic development, and water rights were thus allocated in a "top-down" fashion in line with this goal. Over the first century of federation, water underpinned almost all efforts at inland regional agriculturally based growth policy such as agrarian population redistribution to country areas from the coastal cities, soldier resettlement schemes, and the like. However, over the past three decades, a growing awareness of other imperatives, not least the prevention of environmental degradation in inland Australia, has become much more significant in the shaping of nonmetropolitan water policy. |
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