Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

I present a supplementary explanatory memorandum to the Water Amendment Bill 2008. I ask leave of the House to move government amendments (1) to (8) together.

Leave granted.

I move amendments (1) to (8):

(1)    Schedule 2, page 273 (after line 7), after item 59, insert:

59A At the end of section 41

Add “together with any document prepared under paragraph 43(11)(a) or 43A(6)(d)”.

(2)    Schedule 2, page 273, after proposed item 59A, insert:

59B Paragraph 43(11)(b)

Repeal the paragraph.

(3)    Schedule 2, page 275 (after line 29), after item 63, insert:

63A At the end of section 45

Add “together with any document prepared under paragraph 47(11)(a) or 47A(5)(d)”.

(4)    Schedule 2, page 275, after proposed item 63A, insert:

63B Paragraph 47(11)(b)

Repeal the paragraph.

(5)    Schedule 2, item 77, page 279 (after line 27), after subsection 74A(2), insert:

     (2A)    The Minister is taken, on the commencement of this section, to have made a determination under subsection (1) that New South Wales is a State to which this section applies.

(6)    Schedule 2, item 93, page 282 (line 26), after “the Commonwealth”, insert “(including any agency of the Commonwealth)”.

(7)    Schedule 2, item 93, page 282 (line 27), after “the Commonwealth”, insert “(including any agency of the Commonwealth)”.

(8)    Schedule 2, item 93, page 282 (line 30), omit “the Authority”, substitute “the Commonwealth (including any agency of the Commonwealth)”.

The Commonwealth is moving amendments relating to three distinct matters, the first involving an amendment to recognise New South Wales as a state applying the National Water Initiative risk assignment framework. In the IGA, on the mechanism for this referral of power, the government committed to recognising in the Water Amendment Bill 2008 any state that enacts legislation to adopt the National Water Initiative risk assignment framework as modified by the Murray-Darling Basin IGA. On 24 September 2008 the New South Wales parliament passed amendments to its Water Management Act 2000 to adopt the National Water Initiative risk assignment as modified by the Murray-Darling Basin IGA. The Commonwealth is therefore moving an amendment to the Water Amendment Bill to recognise New South Wales as a state which applies the National Water Initiative risk assignment framework.

The second matter involves amendments to schedule 2, item 93 of the bill to clarify that water access rights and interests held by the Commonwealth for the purposes of the Living Murray initiative are not part of the Commonwealth Environment Water Holder holdings and therefore do not fall under the management of the CEWH. Presently the bill only separates Murray-Darling Basin Authority rights and interests from the Commonwealth Environment Water Holder holdings. However, the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts also holds some water access rights and interests for the purpose of the Living Murray initiative, and an amendment is therefore required to separate these rights and interests from those of the CEWH.

The third matter involves clarifying the process for consideration and adoption of the Basin Plan. Currently the provisions of the existing Water Act 2007 and the bill, read together, would require the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to give the minister a document summarising public submissions and explaining resulting changes to the proposed Basin Plan and a copy of the Basin Plan for adoption before the ministerial council is required to consider the plan. The proposed amendment would ensure that the authority is not required to provide this documentation and a copy of the Basin Plan for adoption to the minister until all consultation processes, including with the ministerial council, are complete.

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