You’ve received this letter because you influence outcomes related to water, infrastructure, cities, agriculture or the environment. Like all our clients and partners, you contribute to decisions that shape how we benefit from natural resources and sustain these benefits into the future.

Our clients face diverse challenges and uncertainties; some are new, others persistent. Natural systems are increasingly strained and under threat. The future is uncertain and the stakes are high. In the context of natural disasters, climate change, economic upheaval and many other stressors, making better decisions is difficult but essential.

Making better decisions is so important that we’ve built our business around supporting our clients and partners to do just that.

How are better decisions made? We believe decisions must be underpinned by clear, practical, evidence-based advice. Our commitment is to work with you to understand your challenges and deliver that advice. Our service offering ranges from strategic planning and stakeholder engagement to policy analysis and detailed economic modelling and quantitative analysis.

But there’s so much more to better decision-making. This letter is the first in a new series of updates that will explore the topic. Each update will include links to our initiatives, informed by collaborations with clients and partners, on the issues that matter for all of us. These updates will reflect the breadth of sectors we work in and the full range of services we provide.

To start with, we’re providing insights from a recent interview with Michael Brennan, Chair of the Australian Productivity Commission, along with the full audio of his conversation with Aither’s Tim Ryan. We are always looking to learn from others about how to make better decisions, so welcomed the opportunity to hear Michael’s reflections.

The Productivity Commission plays an important role in shaping policy and, as you will see, Michael shares our passion about the importance of making better decisions. Better decisions, as he says, are supported by strong analysis and a commitment to ‘real-world evidence’. Michael is an advocate of the Commission’s ‘institutionalised process of going out and gaining the views of stakeholders and testing them rigorously’.

At the same time, the environment in which decisions are made is, in Michael’s words, ‘replete with uncertainty’. At Aither, we’re committed to helping our clients cut through complexity with clear thinking to deliver outcomes – we’ll have more to say on this next time we write.

Today, we’re also releasing our best known publicly available report, the annual Aither Water Markets Report. Now in its 7th year, this report has always been about helping governments and businesses make better decisions. With water scarcity creating a host of social, economic and environmental challenges in the Murray-Darling Basin, this report provides an independent, trusted analysis of market activity and drivers, and a credible and balanced outlook for the year ahead.

We appreciate that you’re likely short on time, so we’ll keep these letters brief. Feel free to share them if you like, opt out if you’d prefer, or contact us with questions or feedback.

Yours sincerely

Chris Olszak and Will Fargher
Co-Founders and Directors, Aither