Rethinking the ‘Carceral Creep’ in Water Governance: Enforcement, Accountability and Restorative Possibilities in Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin

Abstract

This paper interrogates water theft in Australia as a lens through which to explore the 'carceral creep' in environmental governance. Situating its analysis in the context of growing international reliance on punitive responses to environmental harm, it examines the deliberate choice to frame unlawful water use as 'theft', arguing that this language shapes governance responses, constructs water as property, and both illuminates and obscures the victims of water misuse. Comparing responses to water theft in New South Wales and Victoria within Australia's Murray-Darling Basin, where market-based governance has created strong financial incentives for non-compliance, it contrasts New South Wales's dedicated compliance body and use of enforceable undertakings with Victoria's more conventional enforcement model. Situating these practices within broader critiques of carceral logic and environmental restorative justice, the paper argues that criminal and restorative approaches may be more complementary than oppositional, with institutional design playing a critical enabling role.