Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Just before question time, in speaking on the Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Amendment (Scheme Enhancements) Bill 2012, I was making the point that all of us, wherever we live, can take steps to use water more efficiently, and we have seen that extensively in many urban areas. In particular we have seen it in my home state of South Australia, where I have had some personal experience in a number of different schemes in which local communities have engaged in stormwater harvesting and re-use, the establishment of their own recycled water systems and the extensive use of rainwater tanks. In fact recent data from South Australia shows that average daily consumption between 2001 and 2009-10 fell from 756 litres per household to 501 litres per household. In the same period, the state's daily water consumption per person fell from 539 litres to 385 litres. That represents a decrease of 29 per cent. Those kinds of decreases are welcome and hopefully would motivate people right around the country to use or adopt similar methods and ideas in respect of how they might also contribute to water savings.

This legislation, I believe, is critical to all that because this legislation enables people to seek out appliances which use less water. It is my view from my interaction with the community—certainly where I come from—that Australians are becoming more water conscious and would welcome the opportunity to use items or accessories that will enable them to save water. It would seem to me that this legislation, where it provides a star rating to different items that might be available, would be very much a marketing tool for those who market, design or manufacture those very products. I would suggest that this legislation would encourage further investment in the design and manufacture of water-saving products, because the manufacturers would know that there is going to be a demand for their product if it meets the standards. So it is important from the point of view that it will encourage investment, it is important to ensure that the star rating system is applied correctly and is not abused, and it is important because I believe that this legislation will create a mindset of water savings throughout the community.

For those reasons and the other reasons which I have touched on in my comments on this bill, I commend the bill to the House.

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