Barry Haase (Kalgoorlie, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me a great deal of pleasure to rise this evening to speak in this debate, if not to follow the member for Dobell who makes these breathtaking, all-embracing statements about how the current opposition when in government did nothing for 12 years. I thoroughly refute that for the nonsense it is. I will not go into detail on his speech because I think it was primarily sycophantic. So I rise to speak on the Water Amendment Bill 2008.

The Murray-Darling Basin is suffering a severe and extended drought. The five years to January 2007 were the driest on record in the basin. Basin inflows in 2006 were 40 per cent of the previous record low. The CSIRO has estimated that by 2020 average annual inflows could decline by about 15 per cent more. In 2007 the coalition, under John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull, developed a $10 billion National Plan for Water Security. While focusing on the Murray-Darling Basin, this $10 billion plan allowed for nationwide investment in Australia’s irrigation infrastructure and a nationwide program to improve on-farm irrigation technology, and in November 2007 the coalition made an election promise of $50 million to promote development in Northern Australia, including development of the Ord irrigation area.

Drought is not the only problem facing the Murray-Darling Basin, but it has underscored the problem of making the best use of our national water resources. Water in the basin is overallocated. The rainfall is highly variable. We cannot predict when it will rain, of course, and it may take many years, even decades, for the Murray-Darling Basin to have a secure water supply. The Murray-Darling Basin accounts for most, but by no means all, of the irrigated agricultural production in Australia. Northern Australia, in particular the Ord River irrigation area around Kununurra in Western Australia, can contribute to a solution to the Murray-Darling crisis.

The Ord irrigation area has a consistent water supply, arable soil, a favourable climate and enormous potential for expansion. Lake Argyle has a full capacity of 10,765 gigalitres, about 21 times the volume of Sydney Harbour, and a rainfall average of more than 800 millimetres a year, well above the 430 millimetres average for the area of the Murray-Darling Basin. Lake Argyle’s flood storage capacity in 2001 was 19,000 gigalitres. Today, at the height of the northern dry season, Lake Argyle has 9,102 gigalitres remaining in it. By contrast on 31 August, at the end of winter, there were 5,840 gigalitres, about 11 times the volume of Sydney Harbour, available in the larger storages of the entire Murray-Darling Basin.

There are about 1.5 million hectares of irrigated agriculture in the Murray-Darling Basin. There are 15,000 hectares of irrigation in the Ord. At present the Ord has more than 50 per cent more water than the Murray-Darling but just one per cent of the irrigated area. Expansion of the Ord River scheme offers vast potential to increase the area of irrigated agriculture in Australia, boosting the supply of food, fibre and timber products for the Australian and export markets and as a side benefit providing economic and social benefits to the east Kimberley region.

Lake Argyle is the source for a hydropower scheme with a 30-megawatt capacity supplying power to an estimated 40,000 homes annually as well as the Argyle Diamond Mine. Ord irrigation uses water released for this hydropower scheme. At present the hydro releases exceed irrigation and environmental requirements by about two gigalitres per day. I will say that again in case anyone has missed the significance of that statement. The present hydro releases exceed irrigation and environmental requirements by about two gigalitres per day. That is going straight out to sea. It is about the same as the daily water requirement for Sydney and Perth combined.

I draw your attention to the looming world food crisis. The world population is growing but crop yields are affected by drought, rising energy costs, alternative land use and other issues which have generated an increasing demand for food. Prices for basic foods are escalating around the world. In April the President of the World Bank warned that 33 nations are at risk of social unrest due to rising food prices. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations says that world cereal stocks will be at their lowest this year since 1982. Corn, rice and wheat are among some of the staples reaching record prices. This growing food crisis is aggravated by a trend of increasing land use for biofuels such as corn.

Expansion of agriculture in the Ord can help to meet the food crisis both in Australia and internationally. The Ord offers flexibility because its arable land and consistent water supply mean farmers can grow a large range of food, fibre and timber crops. These favourable conditions mean farmers are able to adapt and change crops annually in response to national and world markets. For example, last year sugar cane accounted for 31 per cent of all crops grown in the Ord River irrigation area; this year there is none. This flexibility provides market insulation for farmers contributing to the economic security of the wider community.

The Ord River irrigation area is suitable to grow many crops which are currently in high demand worldwide, including established crops such as maize and rice as well as new crops such as chia. Many in the House will not be aware of this product but it was known as the favourite energy source and health food of the Aztecs—a little while ago. The Ord can grow crops that are in demand because cropping land elsewhere has been given over to biofuels. It can also grow biofuel crops freeing up land elsewhere for food crops. The Ord offers an excellent opportunity to pursue the potential of GM technology with crops such as cotton as well as rice and other grains. Research and field trials show very good results for GM cotton. The transfer of part of current Australian cotton production to the Ord would free up water for further south in the Murray-Darling Basin.

GM cotton trials carried out by the cooperative research centre at Kununurra have produced high yields with low insecticide applications and comparatively low water use. GM cotton crops in Kununurra trials have achieved yields above the Australian average and more than twice the world average bales per hectare. According to trial data from Kununurra, GM cotton uses less water than other crops such as citrus, maize, mango, and leucaena pasture. Based on trial results, the hypothetical gross margins of growing GM cotton at Kununurra have been estimated at up to five times the margins offered by other crops. Other new research can benefit the Ord. Recent research into cold treatment protocols for Japan may open up citrus exports from the Ord to Asia.

The Ord agricultural industry has the knowledge, skills, experience, and resources in place for successful expansion. It has a guaranteed water supply and crop flexibility, which assures high yields and provides market insulation. The water storage of Lake Argyle offers enormous opportunity for agricultural expansion. The Ord at present is experiencing a land squeeze, with an increasing area being given over to forestry and less to food and fibre crops. The Ord is also suffering because it cannot develop economies of scale. The sugar cane industry was destroyed last year when the mill owner gave up waiting for the Ord expansion to go ahead and pulled out. Growers of other crops say they need to be able to expand or they will lose market share as the markets develop.

Chia, the new crop for the Ord, is one crop with the potential of a growing international market. However, growers say if they cannot expand to meet this growing market they will lose out to other countries. This is an exciting new export crop with huge potential for Australia that we do not want to lose.

Kununurra is a town that has grown up around the development of the Ord and now has around 6,000 people, with about 7,300 in the overall region. Expansion of Ord scheme will drive regional development. It will expand the productive capacity of the region. Agricultural expansion will drive the regional economy and regional development. It will attract new residents and families and create wealth for new families. They will be able to start small and develop with cash crops, develop their own land and gradually build up the farms and involve the whole family in value-adding.

Stage 2 of the Ord overcomes problems of the past associated with the lack of economy of scale—for example, with sugar cane. Jobs in construction and the expansion of agriculture would create up to 700 permanent jobs and increase the value of annual production almost immediately to $227 million. In 2006-07 the dollar value of production was about $48 million from agriculture, and $39 million was expected from timber.

Expansion of the Ord scheme will drive the development of Kununurra, including the development of the Kununurra airport, which needs to be extended to provide for economic airfreight into South-East Asia and to south-eastern Australia for consumption. There is also a necessity for the expansion of the port of Wyndham, which will in turn attract more trade. As the region grows on the back of this development, it will attract more people to the region, putting more kids into the Kununurra District High School. We need that economy of scale. We need to get past that critical mass.

When the Ord River scheme was developed 40 years ago, it was co-funded by the Western Australian and federal governments. It was recognised at the time by the late Sir Charles Court as being a great opportunity, and during those 40 years it has suffered a great deal. It has suffered drawbacks primarily through petulance and a lack of knowledge of how to grow products in the Ord River area. That lack of experience is now gone. The research is there. The future is looking great. If only the federal government had the confidence to put some funds into it.

The Ord expansion is a priority for the new Western Australian government and is being championed by WA Minister for Regional Development Brendon Grylls in no small way. He has committed $200 million of funding over four years. Mr Grylls says this funding for the Ord is not negotiable. He has made the Ord expansion a priority for the new WA government. It is certainly time that the Rudd government saw the opportunities in the Ord, not just for the immediate region but for all Australians. The federal government has had an opportunity to share this vision and contribute to the expansion of the Ord and the many benefits that will follow.

The Murray-Darling strategy developed by the Howard government could have assisted with advancing the prosperity of Australia with Ord stage 2. My question is: will this amendment bill that we debate this evening do the same? Will the Rudd government open their eyes and recognise what is in fact a great future for all Australians to be found in the development of the Ord River area? My question is: will this bill provide hope for residents of the Kununurra region that they will see some of the money that was originally put aside in the product that was developed by Mr Turnbull and Mr Howard when we were in government? Will this strategy that has been developed now provide the same opportunities to give some hope and some heart to the current population of Kununurra? Will it provide assistance for those who are in high land price areas in parts of the Murray-Darling Basin to go to the East Kimberley region of Western Australia and take up and develop land to make a future for themselves, their families and all of Australia?

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