Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

I cannot not have that on the Hansard record: ‘Two drips, not one drop,’ the member for Perth says quite accurately. In spite of the rhetoric of the government that $700 million has now been allocated to the Living Murray initiative, we have not seen the purchase from willing sellers of one drop of water to put back into environmental flows—not a drop. When you look at the Living Murray website, it is terrific. It says things are projected and it has a state by state breakdown and at the bottom of it there is: ‘Amount of water delivered into the system’ and you get all the eggs in a row: 0, 0, 0, 0, 0. That is what you get, because they have failed to actually deliver a drop.

Labor, on the other hand, believes that you have got to establish targets. That is why we have a 30 per cent target for water recycling by 2015. That is why we support mandated targets as the basis of the Kyoto protocol and the global system. That is why we support a national emissions trading scheme, so that you drive that change through in the least costly way. That is why we support putting 1,500 gigalitres back into the Murray River within 10 years—the amount that the scientists tell us is necessary to save the Murray River, or face the consequences.

What is happening is that one by one community groups and businesses are coming on and adopting the agenda and strategy that Labor has set. Today we have seen the peak policy-making body of the National Farmers Federation make a unanimous decision to join with the Australian Business Roundtable on Climate Change in calling for early action on climate change. Why are they doing that? The NFF president says because climate change:

... threatens Australia’s agricultural productive base—an important contributor to the national economy, the ability for Australian farmers to put food on the table of Australian families, and the long-term sustainability of at least 60% of Australia’s landmass.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics records that Australian farmers spent $3.3 billion on natural resource management over 2004-05, that 92% of farmers have environmental programs in place to manage and preserve their land, and that farmers plant over 20 million trees a year for conservation.

Farmers know that climate change is real and it is impacting on them first. That is why today they have taken such a strong position.

We have seen the Leader of the Opposition this week put forward an agenda for reform of federal-state relations. That is very necessary is in the areas of environment and water. We need to stop the blame game. We need to actually have the Howard government and the future Rudd government take charge and take responsibility for delivering on the ground. A Labor government will do just that, because in spite of the rhetoric—in spite of the fact that you have ‘Australia’ and ‘National’ in all these programs—we are not seeing the results delivered on the ground.

A Labor government will deliver clarity of purpose, commitment to implementation, appropriate accountability and monitoring of progress, because there is no greater issue facing the nation than climate change and addressing the symptoms of it, including the reduction in our water supplies. We know from report after report that early action is cheaper—that early action is not just good for the environment; it is good for the economy and good for jobs. What we have from those opposite is an acknowledgement that Kyoto is ongoing and will be the basis of the international effort, but we should not ratify yet. There is an acknowledgement that emissions trading is the main driver, but we should not have it yet. There is an acknowledgement that we need to put in place water trading and take action to buy back water that is overallocated, but there is no action yet. I say the time is now. (Time expired)

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