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Using the Australian and institutional policy experience, this paper considers the problems associated with water governance and seeks to draw some general lessons for public policy. The paper is used to specifically explore the governance challenges that arise because of (1) the proclivity to regard water as ‘special’; (2) the scope for political opportunism especially in drought; (3) the inherent uncertainty that attends water availability in some settings. We conclude that enhanced governance can be achieved, but diversions from cost recovery pricing can be difficult to reverse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparing the United Kingdom's Renewables Obligation and Australia's Renewable Energy Target, this paper reconstructs the market for green certificates in which penalties are imposed on missed certificates. Our analysis shows that excess demand in the Renewables Obligation makes the penalty the minimum certificate price, but excess supply in the Renewable Energy Target makes the penalty the maximum certificate price. Further, excess supply also implies that the sales of certificates are not guaranteed in the Renewable Energy Target. Therefore, compared to the Renewables Obligation, generators face greater risk under the Renewable Energy Target as there is more uncertainty about the price of certificates and the possibility of sales. • Reconstruct demand and supply curves for TGC models. • Excess demand (supply) makes the penalty the minimum (maximum) certificate price. • The recycling mechanism pushes up the certificate price in the RO. • The refunding mechanism pushes down the certificate price in the RET. • Generators under TGC with excess supply face greater price risk and volume risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study conceptualises water security indicators in the regional urban context for water security policy formulation and implementation. The paper used a Process Analysis Method (PAM) to develop and apply a set of Urban Water Security (UWS) indicators suitable for the regional urban water authorities. The UWS indicators were calibrated and validated by the relevant stakeholders of the northern, tropical, urban region of Queensland, Australia. Although the priorities for different regional cities vary, the indicators are expected to help water authorities monitor, measure and track their policy performance over time. • Regional cities are having their unique water supply security challenges. • Urban water supply Indicators designed with stakeholder consultation and verification. • Indicators are developed to support urban water supply policy formulation to improve water security. • Pilots the indicators in a regional urban water context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia has long been observed to experience the ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) of periodic alternation of flooding and drought. Australia has experienced consecutive years of the La Niña cycle of heavy rain and flooding. At some stage, this will revert to one or more years of drought, often severe. In previous years of drought, consideration was given to alternative water supply, including recycled wastewater. This paper reflects on the case of the previous period of El Niño drought in South East Queensland (SEQ), aiming to contribute to drought mitigation planning through reviving consideration of recycled water. • In depth case study on Queensland response to drought conditions. • Includes analysis of attempts to introduce other water sources, particularly recycled water for potable and non potable uses. • Examines reasons for failure and non-acceptance and uses comparisons with successful schemes to suggest policy changes for a way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban water sector must innovate to meet a multitude of challenges. In Australia, innovation needs to occur primarily within the existing framework of public ownership. Supporting innovation necessitates understanding all the potential regulatory levers which could influence its adoption. This paper analyses the place of public utilities within Melbourne's urban water regulatory terrain and examines how innovation thrived or withered amidst the various regulatory influences through an empirical case study. We conclude that water regulatory systems are overlapping, heterogeneous and more sophisticated than often assumed. Yet despite this inherent regulatory complexity, innovation can occur inside trusted public institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Integrated Urban Water Management plans” consider all water services simultaneously to determine optimal infrastructure solutions. They create many benefits, including unlocking opportunities for water reuse. This paper conducts preliminary assessment of nine IUWM plan case studies from Melbourne. It finds inconsistencies between plans in relation to environmental and liveability objectives, and option identification methods, and also that many IUWM options perform worse than conventional water supplies in regards to energy. The most consequential finding is that the plans do not include scenario planning and therefore fail to consider infrastructure performance regarding resilience to future uncertainties around population and climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) paradigm, including concepts such as water reuse, and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems, has become popular within Melbourne, and this has created new governance issues. This paper explores the relationship between changing governance structures and IUWM implementation. It is found that IUWM implementation has predominantly been accelerated by: a major drought, and implementing the Office of Living Victoria (OLV) as an overarching body. Efforts by the OLV have increased inter-agency collaboration, and institutionalised integrated planning. However, there is still no consensus on what the specifics of IUWM planning and infrastructure arrangements should actually look like. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the objective of economic regulation as mimicking the process of competition, rather than the outcome of theoretical competitive markets, recognises the need for regulated energy transmission and distribution network service providers to respond to consumer preferences. The regulator, network service providers, and consumer advocates in Australia have conducted experiments on ways consumer preferences can shape regulatory proposals. These experiments demonstrate that agreements about regulatory proposals between the network service provider and a counterparty representing the interests of consumers are effective in ensuring that the proposal reflects consumer preferences. The paper demonstrates that in this process, consumers can also design output-oriented incentive schemes proposed by performance-based regulation. • Trials of a network business agreeing its revenueproposal with a suitable counterparty as incorporating consumer preferences are reported. • These trials resulted in better-quality regulatory proposals. • The need to promote new distribution models will result in the adoption of more output measures in regulation. • There is greater scope for this "agreement-oriented" approach to consumer-centric regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rail sector globally has seen considerable reform in recent years. To date, the shape of reform has varied across jurisdictions, as has the nature of the rail operations being reformed. In numerous jurisdictions, the reform processes have encompassed the privatization of assets and operations. Unlike many other industries where privatization has occurred, however, the rail sector has experienced several instances where asset ownership and operations have been taken back into the hands of the government. In this paper, an examination is made of the privatization and de-privatization (or reverse privatization) of rail assets in three jurisdictions in Australia and New Zealand to see what insights can be drawn with regard to the factors that led to the failure of privatization and the government's reclaiming of control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, various concepts with similar underlying philosophies have evolved within the urban water sector calling for a more integrated, sustainable, and adaptive management approach. Whilst many advocate this idea, the process of transitioning to sustainability-focused water management seems to proceed slowly. There are sector-specific characteristics that generally bring a level of conformity within the sector, but various national and regional drivers and constraints also shape each utility's option space. Business models can be useful catalysts for change by providing a more holistic view of potential options and transition pathways. This paper outlines the concept of business modeling for use in Sustainable Urban Water Management (SUWM). A literature-based comparative assessment was undertaken for two cases: Melbourne, Australia and the Emscher Region, Germany. We demonstrate the practical relevance of the proposed framework for understanding enablers and inhibitors of change and identifying strategies for sustainability within the urban water sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the factors that contributed to the evolving structure and ownership of the electricity industry in Australia in the inter-war and immediate post-World War II period. It details how the industry developed in the Australian states from the latter part of the 19th century through the first half of the 20th century. In examining the industry's transformation, network effects, generation plant scales, and the influence of the conflicting ideologies of socialism versus private ownership are considered. It then provides an assessment of the impact the changes in structure collectively had on the industry's performance during this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]