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

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. He is new to this; we will give him the benefit of the doubt there. I also indicate that I found your last answer quite extraordinary. I am not sure whether you were justifying the fact that just half of one per cent of $10 billion will be spent in the coming financial year or whether you were suggesting that the $53 million was just a sort of vague figure, that you might spend more or less in terms of the appropriation that is there, so I would appreciate clarification of that.

I want to go to the two specific issues of the Clarence dam proposal and the government’s proposition there. Can the minister confirm that the report by the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation states on page 6 that there were ‘no detailed site investigations’ and on page 68 that the report was:

… based on a number of sweeping assumptions due to the restricted time frame, the nature of the study and the lack of access to recent financial data.

Minister, why weren’t there any site investigations for the Commonwealth’s proposal to dam the Tweed and Clarence rivers? What were the sweeping assumptions that were used in the report? Can the minister confirm that there was no research on the energy consumption required to pump water more than 150 kilometres? Does the minister think this is an appropriate way to set policy? Can the minister also address the specific issue of why Commonwealth funding has been supported for the super pipeline to Bendigo but not to Ballarat, contrary to statements by the minister in the Ballarat media when he visited there that this proposal was consistent with the National Water Initiative’s principles and funding guidelines?

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