John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I want to start with the last part. I think that anthem belongs to the people and not to the Prime Minister. In relation to the other parts of the question: yes, I have just heard of that report from the Argon National Laboratories in Washington. In relation to the National Water Initiative, the irrigation systems of the entire nation are eligible to share and boundarilessly in what is provided under the plan, although by definition most of the money under that plan will go to irrigation systems in the Murray-Darling Basin because that is where most of the irrigation systems are. The plan is really stripped of superfluousness. It has two elements: one of them is to restore the irrigation systems through piping and lining; and the second is to deal with overallocations through, amongst other things, structural adjustments. The first takes about $6 billion and the second takes about $3 billion, but I have said that it is available to irrigation systems anywhere in the country.

In relation to the so-called Bradfield scheme, I indicated that we would be happy to examine any proposal put forward. I know that my colleague Senator Bill Heffernan, whom I have appointed as chairman of the task force into Northern Australia, has already made contact with the Queensland Premier, and there will be a consideration. I do not want to raise expectations, because there are lot of experts who do not think it has a prayer of working—it is too environmentally negative and costly—but we have an open mind. In a way, that is separate from the national water security initiative, but I have indicated a willingness to have it examined.

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