The Prime Minister’s $10 billion water package, it emerged, was drawn up on the back of an envelope, it emerged. Treasury and other key authorities were left out of the loop.

Now, the Commonwealth intends to pursue an aggressive takeover of the Murray-Darling Basin using a “cocktail” of constitutional powers in the wake of Victoria’s refusal to cede powers over the river system.

But it seems as if the PM is keeping on running with his policy on the run.

He’s announced this major measure with a fax to Victorian premier Steve Bracks that looks as if it was hastily hatched and dispatched from somewhere on the campaign trail called simply ”Business Suite 2”. Click on the image below to read the full document.

It is a national disgrace that a major constitutional (and good governance) issue is being determined in this way.

The states have run water policy for more than a century. They built all the Murray-Darling Basin schemes except the Snowy. And, in the main, they ran them well – despite constant Country Party pork-barrelling.

Canberra has been waving constitutional big sticks this morning, but IR this ain’t.

Bracks has offered a workable solution to this – catchment caps and allocations – that would not create a constitutional nightmare.

Act in haste, repent in leisure at the High Court.