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

The first issue I wish to raise is the Living Murray water tender. Minister, given that in 2006 the government allocated $200 million to recover 200 gigalitres of water entitlements for the Murray through a tender for water efficiency, which closed on 14 February 2007, can you confirm that only $765,000 was actually spent on purchasing water entitlements through this tender? Can you confirm that only three tenders were accepted, recovering only 454 megalitres of water entitlements—0.2 per cent of the volume that the government aimed to recover? What is happening to the excess funding, the $199 million that remains of the $200 million that you anticipated would be spent on this tender? How can you explain the absolute failure of this tender process, where almost no water has been recovered under the tender?

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