"Infrastructure may not be a sufficient condition for poverty reduction, but it is undeniably a necessary condition," Briscoe argues. "Every country which succeeded in improving the lot of the poor in recent decades, including China, India and Brazil, has done so partly by driving infrastructure development..."

He says Australia’s management of water availability over the last decade shows “it is possible (with ingenuity and investment) to adapt to rapid climate change and associated water scarcity.”

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