In recent reflection on the future path of Australia the common good has made a welcome return. At the same time the Turnbull Government has transferred responsibility for water resources, including the Murray-Darling Basin, from the Department of the Environment to the Department of Trade.
The two things seem to be unrelated. But the concept of the common good, which is often criticised as woolly and soft, has been embodied robustly in the Murray-Darling Basin plan and survives in the midst of continuing conflict.
Those who appeal to the common good implicitly reject the view that society is composed of competitive individuals and that its good is achieved by unregulated economic freedom. They emphasise that human beings are interdependent and are shaped by their relationships. The good of society is therefore achieved through cooperation, so that the good of each individual is realised through looking to the good of all, particularly the most vulnerable.
The common good depends on the commitment to it by individuals and groups in their economic and other relationships. It also demands that governments take an active role in establishing a regulatory framework ensuring that all live decently.
The development of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan shows how the common good can be sought in a complex and inherently conflictual context.
Many competing individuals and groups have an interest in drawing water from the basin. Queensland, New South Wales, Victorian and South Australian users draw drinking water for their towns from it, depend on it for agriculture and industry and, use it for drainage. All Australians rely on it for food. And all these states and different users naturally focus on their own interests and defend them strongly.
The capacity of the river system to meet these demands depends on the health of the basin and its ecosystems, including fish, vegetation, micro-organisms, groundwater and flood plains. Its health in turn relies on a reliable flow of water through the streams and rivers from source to the mouth of the Murray. If water users collectively do not provide this flow their individual interests will be harmed, as well as those of all the other beings that compose the environment.
It takes time to move from thinking competitively to acting cooperatively. In the case of the Murray-Darling Basin it has also taken droughts, including the Federation drought, the drought of1967 and the Millennium drought, to bring home the threat to the Basin and to secure agreements about