Gary Hardgrave (Moreton, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

South-east Queenslanders are well and truly responding to the requirement to use less water. In the face of a once in a hundred years drought, the worst set of conditions possible, Brisbane may become the biggest city in the Western world to run out of water. What that will actually mean in its totality I do not really want to imagine, but it is a reality that we have to face with our Wivenhoe and Somerset storage dams at less than 17 per cent capacity. Let us be plain: the Wivenhoe Dam is not really a water storage dam. It is a very shallow and very broad dam—in other words, it is easy for the water to evaporate. Somerset Dam, a far deeper dam and in far narrower terrain, is a purpose-built dam in south-east Queensland. There are also the North Pine Dam and the Leslie Harrison Dam in the bayside suburbs. The Hinze Dam on the Gold Coast is the fullest dam in the whole of south-east Queensland. It feeds the Gold Coast water, but not the city of Brisbane at this stage.

The dam that should have been built in the late eighties and early nineties was the Wolffdene Dam. At the foothills of Mount Tamborine, it would have mimicked the Somerset Dam—a very deep dam with a very narrow exposure to sunlight. The dam was stopped in one of the first actions of the Goss government in early 1990. As all Queenslanders know, and indeed all people in this place know, that was on the advice of the now Leader of the Opposition. Queenslanders are looking for all sorts of solutions as they play their part in using less water than ever before—130 litres per person per day is what south-east Queenslanders are using. So it is extraordinary to think that the Leader of the Opposition is still maintaining an opposition to the best purpose-built potential water supply for south-east Queensland, all because it comes from across the border in New South Wales. The idea of building a dam and looking at what can happen in the Tweed and the Clarence valleys are things we should not rule off the agenda. It is something that the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources has certainly put on the agenda and I think it should be talked about, particularly as south-east Queenslanders are working very hard to make sure that they use less water than ever before.

South-east Queenslanders, per capita, have also taken to water tanks more than anybody else in Australia. They know that the water that can come off their roofs may in fact make a difference. South-east Queenslanders are taking up state government incentives and Brisbane City Council incentives to connect tank water not only to their gardens but also to their toilet systems within their houses. But I read something today that shows just how deep the arrogance is of the Queensland government—and I see that the member for Petrie is in the chamber; she will understand this point very plainly. A report in today’s Courier Mail outlines the fact that the Queensland government could very easily steal the water out of people’s water tanks because people have no legal ownership of the water that falls on the roofs of their houses and makes its way through the pipe systems that they have installed, albeit in some cases with subsidies from Queensland taxpayers and Brisbane City Council ratepayers. The Queensland government will put a meter on people’s water tanks and take control of those tanks. There is no legal impediment to stop that from occurring.

This is something that has been highlighted by the member for Wentworth, the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources. But it is not just a Liberal cabinet minister in this place who is highlighting this; the Australian Democrat Senator for Queensland, Andrew Bartlett, has also said that he is very concerned about a possible water grab. There are literally billions of litres of water stored in a variety of water tanks around homes in south-east Queensland today.

The Queensland government has failed to invest in infrastructure. It has failed to look forward. It is always looking backwards and saying no. It has failed to do anything, as far as guaranteeing water supply is concerned, for the 1,500 people a week who arrive in south-east Queensland. It has failed to do anything in the face of real efforts by individual Queenslanders. It is absolutely breathtaking. The member for Petrie and I know that the Queensland government is prepared to shut down local government to deny the voice of opposition against their excesses. They cannot wait until they get rid of the member for Petrie and the member for Moreton. They are working very hard to stop us from engaging with local schools, such is their arrogance. They want to desperately grab the water that is sitting in water tanks around Queenslanders’ homes today, and they should stand condemned. The member for Petrie and I will stand in the face of this Queensland government arrogance— (Time expired)

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