In practice it lead to mega rich foreigners buying up all the water rights in Australia and preventing anyone from using them which created artificial scarcity and drove up prices. These mega rich foreigners then sold Australians their own water back to them at exorbitant prices.
Oh
Oh dear
We’re fucked, aren’t we?
Hopefully people remember and learn from the Australian government who allowed water to be traded like stocks. The idea was that farmers and companies that needed water most would pay for water rights from people who didn’t need it.
In practice it lead to mega rich foreigners buying up all the water rights in Australia and preventing anyone from using them which created artificial scarcity and drove up prices. These mega rich foreigners then sold Australians their own water back to them at exorbitant prices.
This has been a known outcome for at least 30 years.
Yes. We are. We have been for a long time.
It’s just becoming more visible to the first world.