Australia’s state boundaries were largely determined in the 19th century, with initial divisions occurring in the 1820s and 1830s, and further refinements and resolutions of disputes happening throughout the century. The boundary of New South Wales was first set in 1787, in London, as a line through the continent at 135 degrees of longitude, which illustrates just how arbitrary the initial demarcation was. Nearly all subsequent state divisions followed this arbitrary approach, and simply drew straight lines on a map.
The formal mapping of Australia’s drainage basins, specifically the divisions and river basins, occurred in the early 1960s, by the Australian Water Resources Council (AWRC), and was due to improved mapping of Australia’s arid interior.
The Australian Government’s Bureau of Meteorology website contains a topographical map of the drainage divisions and river regions for the Australian mainland and Tasmania, and consists of 13 drainage divisions and their respective river regions.
https://www.bom.gov.au/water/geofabric/documents/BOM002_Map_Poster_A3_Web.pdf
PAM proposes that the borders of the states and territories of Australia should be redrawn to conform to the boundaries of the drainage divisions. That is, the boundaries of the 7 states and territories of Australia, excluding the Australian Capital Territory, should be redrawn to correspond to the boundaries of the 13 drainage divisions. Each state or territory would consist of one or more drainage divisions.
There are various options regarding how the borders of the states and the Northern Territory can be adjusted to conform to the boundaries of drainage divisions. For example, based on the Bureau of Meteorology map, the borders of the Northern Territory could be adjusted to include the Tanami-Timor Sea Coast drainage division; and Western Australia to include the South West Coast, Pilbara-Gascoyne and North Western Plateau drainage divisions. Tasmania would remain unchanged, and correlate with the Tasmania drainage division.
The Australian constitution does not define the exact boundaries of each state. While federal parliament can alter state boundaries, any such alteration requires the consent of the affected state’s people via a referendum. Any new constitution for Australia should define state boundaries by using the boundaries of the drainage divisions.
PAM also recognises that state boundaries based on drainage divisions do not satisfy all environmental or ecological purposes. For example, Australia’s bioregions do not follow drainage divisions. Obvious examples are alpine bioregions. So, we need a separate system of administration for conservation purposes. According to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water website, the Australian landscape is divided into 89 bioregions.
Australia is the driest inhabited continent in the world. The reason to prioritise drainage divisions, river basins and catchments in Australia is because water takes priority for social and economic security.
Like state boundaries, the boundaries of local government areas (LGAs), or local councils, in Australia also should be redrawn to prioritise efficient water management. Such boundaries also should be based on the physical features of the area, and the socio-economic requirements, problems and aspirations of the people. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia has 566 LGAs. So, as far as possible, the boundaries of individual LGAs or groups of adjoining LGAs should correspond with the boundaries of catchments and river basins, and LGAs should become the basis of decentralised socio-economic planning and development. Ideally, LGAs should have a manageable population size of about 100,000 people.
New legislation and federal and state constitutional changes would be required to fully implement this policy.
