Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to argue very strongly that all of the amendments to the Water Amendment Bill 2008 be supported. In particular I am understandably concerned about amendment (6), which talks about making sure that we do not allow further extractions from the Murray-Darling Basin for non-basin use. In particular, this amendment focuses on something like the north-south pipeline, a project which would take some 75 gigalitres minimum, but up to 100 gigalitres, to deliver water out of the Murray-Darling Basin—out of the most degraded tributary to the Murray, the Goulburn River.

That water would be delivered to Melbourne, which has options. Those options include recycling—not necessarily for potable use, but for all of its industrial and outdoors use. Also in Melbourne they could do a lot more with their Eastern Treatment Plant. They could look at their stormwater harvesting—or rather the lack of it—and desalinisation plants. We know that Melbourne has alternatives which could drought proof it. It is not a sensible or happy alternative to have it hooked into a drought-stressed part of the basin which, as I said, has already been officially designated the most degraded in the system.

Let me also say that I am stunned at the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, who is sitting at the table, denying these amendments. He, himself, recognised the environmental impacts of this pipeline when he designated it as a controlled action under the EPBC Act.

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