b'Canberra observed co-operate with industry on a wide rangeprovide interest free loans, special grantshas been any modelling, it has been of research projectsor at least theyin drought affected areas to providewell hidden. At both these locations the used to. support for isolated children in non- annual evaporation rate is approximately government schools, build more roads2 m per year. Will it be best to store the One would have thought that, in the 21stand fund the operation of Adelaideswater in dams or encourage a re-charge century, the need for a strong researchde-salination plant so that river water canof the underground water resources? We base and a corresponding set of nationalbe allocated to grow silage. dont know.statistics on a whole range of parameters would be a no-brainerbut not now inThere was no mention of a waterThen, there is the elephant in the room. Australia. The funding freeze is hittingmanagement plan for the future, butweHow should the land and water be used? hard, and the government does notcan all relax because Major GeneralIs it sensible to grow cotton and rice seem to be interested building high-techStephen Day is now Coordinator-Generalanymore? How do we reduce the demand education and research facilities. Wefor Drought. for water in the Murray Darling Basin seem to be muddling along from electionso that it can be sustainably managed? to election, with the politics controllingI am not sure why building roads isGovernments have been wrestling with most of the governments decisions. Its agoing to help managing our waterthese issues for many years, but the status national disgrace. resources, and although the upgradequo is not working.to the Wyangala Dam near CowraEventually the Commonwealth and a new Dungowan Dam to beGovernment is going to have to take The drought package built near Tamworth will increase thewater management by the scruff of the The governments response to thewater storage, it would be good to seeneck and bring it on. We need common current drought is a typical example. Itsome calculations based on expectedsense and evidence-based policies to looks like a knee-jerk reaction, which willtemperature and rainfall that show themanage our water. In the meantime, its benefits of these investments. If thereall very frustrating.Gold Council reports strong demand for goldThe World Gold Council reported aThe plots speak for themselves but,been steadily increasing over the last strong demand for gold in its Octoberit is evident that the gold production10 years and exploration expenditure 2019 monthly report (file:///C:/Users/ is close to record levels. The price ofis bounding ahead. All-in-all a very David/Downloads/2019-October-fund- gold, although somewhat volatile, hasoptimistic picture for the gold explorers.flows.pdf).In October, global gold-backed ETFs1 and similar products saw US$1.9 B of net inflows, primarily across Europe and North America, increasing their collective gold holdings by 44.4 t to a new record high of 2900 t. Global gold-backed assets under management have grown 38% so far in 2019, partially driven by the gold price appreciation; this figure is 10% below its 2012 high, when the price of gold was above US$1700/oz. The global evidence is reflected in the Australian gold information, as shown in Figure 1. This figure shows the gold price in $A/oz, adjusted to 2019 dollars, from the Reserve Banks tables (https://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/tables/); the quarterly exploration investment in the search for gold x 5 and adjusted to $A in 2019 (https://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/glossary/8412.0); and the Australian quarterly gold production from mines, from the Department of Industrys website (https://publications.industry.gov.au/publications/resourcesandenergyquarterlyjune2019/ Figure 1.Australian quarterly gold production 19702019, exploration investment from 19892019 and index.html). the gold price in $A. See the text for more information.1Gold backed Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are securities designed accurately to track the price of gold.DECEMBER 2019 PREVIEW 34'