Expecting too much of price controls

"Lateline business" on Monday let the water industry get away with murder .The spokesman was all smiles and no wonder. The doctrine of price controls as a means of driving sound conservation behaviour( and we sure need them ) is a valuable idea in the right hands . Its a very dangerous idea in the wrong hands, sending price signals that are blunt , inefficient and unfair for starters .
The biggest danger of all is that it that suits the taxing side of government -
The love affair with anything that works in cuttingedgeconservation  has blinded many to its limits . Its too easy with conservation issues to let industry decide - esp. when they have the ultimate god of their own revenue stream , and let's face it--- there is no stream better than the one that the water industry have been living off for eons .
The price of water is so cheap that the windfall profits from trying to limit consumption by pricing ( a really stupid idea because farmers use most of our water  (and because its not a finite resource unless you have accountants  and simpletons trying to manage it ) would keep the employees in gold armchairs forever -- beating anything Rudd will get out of the miners . The spokesmen on Lateline were smiling, but no taxpayer poly or farmer should be, when these people are more powerful than all of us are- and they want more .Point is, the water industry are on TV because they are well funded . Science is not,

Watch this carelessness breed yet another water industry infrastructure idea that is not worthy of public investment;
You think misinvestment ( fire fighting ) is not a risk ? Look at the list of go nowhere failures ( esp during the drought) we have seen in the last few years alone -desalination , dam watching ,water meters , granny bucket brigades , pipelines to nowhere , pumping aquifers because you can't see the damage ( Barwon water in The Otways )
Why did the damming business in Tasmania get so far out of perspective?

No, rather than fund the water industry ( or agree to giving them more ) we need to tax them and harness them . Vic government has no such restraint apart from Premier in wet behind the ears Holding who has let them lose in catchment management and all manner of conservation areas where they are not even qualified .
They , unlike genuine conservation and protection planners, have always had time and money to go and annoy politicians . Now they use the suspect and very limited argument of price controls to argue for nirvana for their already huge empires becasue polys like Holding and others fall for it .

The water industry doesn't need more money - it needs something ( and has done for decades since dams went out of fashion ) ) to spend its already huge taxes money on (can't do dams easily so they do pipleines and desalination plants etc)
The point is, the water industry is ALREADY well funded and in danger of taking over the advisory system on water and therefore a wide range of conservation areas -During the drought they already have enough runs OFF the board to make them look like the Kindergarten class they are when they are away from their excel charts and out amongst ecosystems.

When it comes down to it, polys have to think and get expert advice on conservation - otherwise its just a BIG game driven by empire builders, wannabes and polys avoiding the too hard basket for the other big risk for Australia's democratic and balanced future ( assuming government is actually a clone of business) Do you know how much engineering the environment could cost the country? - well think about what they feed on now .It ain't conservation and let the people say so !