Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker Goodenough, on indulgence, I endorse the comments of the member for Lingiari and congratulate the former Chair of the Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs on the report. It was thoroughly enlightening. We could have gone on for a long time, but you were quite right to say that we've got to come to some conclusions.

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources, I present the committee's report on its inquiry into water use efficiency programs in agriculture, entitled Making every drop count, together with the minutes of proceedings.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources, I present the committee's report entitled Making every drop count: inquiry into water use efficiency programs in agriculture. The agriculture sector is an important part of Australia's economy; it is also the backbone of many of Australia's regional and rural communities. The Australian government's water policies and programs are of the utmost importance to the sector and to those communities. For those reasons, as well as the importance of sustaining Australia's wonderful natural environment, it is vital that water use policies and programs achieve their goals appropriately and efficiently.

One of the key components of the Australian government's water policy is its focus on water use efficiency: making sure that irrigators are able to get the best outcomes from the water they use and, in turn, ensuring that our water systems have appropriate levels of water for environmental purposes. This is a complex area but not one that Australia can afford to get wrong.

The committee's report makes eight recommendations based on the evidence we received. I would like to highlight a few of those as I table the report today. First:

The Committee recommends that the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources conduct an internal review of water use efficiency (WUE) programs to address the following issues:

The Department should provide the results of this review to this Committee no later than 1 June 2018.

The second recommendation, given the range and scope of water use efficiency programs, is that:

The Committee recommends that the Auditor-General consider conducting a performance audit of Australian Government funded water use efficiency programs to assess the design process, evaluation arrangements, and effective and efficient administration of these programs. The Committee recommends that the audit take place in 2018.

This external scrutiny would provide the public and the Australian government with reassurance regarding the overall efficiency of current water use programs.

The committee's third recommendation relates to the Productivity Commission's review of the National Water Initiative, which was provided to the government in December:

The Committee recommends that the Australian Government act expeditiously in response to the final report of the Productivity Commission's … and ensure that:

A key theme that the committee heard throughout this inquiry was the importance of further research, development and extension in relation to irrigation technologies to improve water use efficiency. Therefore:

The Committee recommends that the Australian Government establish and provide seed funding for a coordinating Research, Development and Extension (RD&E) body to work with the agriculture sector in order to:

Another related point we heard a lot about was the disincentive to upgrade to more efficient irrigation technologies, because of the high cost of electricity:

The Committee recommends that the Australian Government investigate mechanisms to address factors such as the rising cost of electricity and cost of alternative energies which may act as impediments to the adoption of water use efficiency technologies in irrigated agriculture.

As I said earlier, the viability of Australia's irrigation based agriculture sector has important consequences for regional communities. For that reason:

The Committee recommends that the Australian Government establish an integrated taskforce to assist Regional Development Authorities to:

Our final recommendation looks at the use of Australian government funding for infrastructure and related projects. The considerable expense of these programs requires the most rigorous analysis and process to ensure that money is being spent in the most efficient and effective way, as with all government spending:

The Committee recommends that the Australian Government require any water efficiency infrastructure funding or assistance provided to set out:

On behalf of the committee, I thank all of those who have contributed to this inquiry by providing submissions, appearing at hearings and hosting us on their properties. I particularly thank the committee secretariat, led by Dr Anna Dacre, Anthony Overs and Peter Pullen, both of whom have moved on, and I wish them well in their future endeavours; and also the committee deputy chair, Justine Keay, the member for Braddon, who is here with us today to say a few words; Rowan Ramsey; Tony Pasin; John McVeigh; and Matt Keogh.

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