Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on a very important issue in my electorate: the Howard government’s recent proposal to take water from northern New South Wales to Queensland. One of the proposals that has been put forward by the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources involves building a dam in the village of Tyalgum. Our precious water would then be sent over the border to the Gold Coast—an area that has been overdeveloped and inadequately planned for. I am totally opposed to the plans of the environment minister, the Prime Minister and the National Party to take precious water from our rivers for use by the overdeveloped Gold Coast. As the federal member for Richmond I make no apologies for standing up for locals and fighting to protect the best interests of the residents of the Richmond electorate.

My main concerns about this proposal include the devastating effect that the building of a dam would have on the village of Tyalgum and the surrounding areas and the sustainability and future of our river. Our river’s health and ecosystem are of the utmost importance. There are very serious environmental consequences associated with this proposal. Many local industries rely on our river—for example, tourism, farming and fishing. This proposal would have a significant impact on local jobs, and that is certainly an issue that many locals have raised with me. I am also very concerned about the future water needs of the Tweed region. It is of utmost importance that our water requirements are looked after. In a report in the Australian on 16 April 2007, the Prime Minister referred to this proposal to pump water from northern New South Wales. He said that it passes a ‘commonsense pub test’. I challenge the Prime Minister to go to any pub in the Northern Rivers and talk to the locals about this plan. I do not think he or the environment minister would be game to go to the Tyalgum pub and talk about this plan. I do not think they would get a very good hearing at all.

This plan is self-serving and ill conceived. It is another example of how this government—in particular, the National Party—has abandoned and forgotten regional and rural Australia. Last week, over 300 locals attended a public meeting in Tyalgum to voice their concerns about this proposed dam and how it would destroy their village and the surrounding areas. Our community have been very vocal in our opposition to this plan. Last week I launched a petition and, so far, hundreds of locals have signed it. Our community will stand united on this issue and fight to stop this dam. It is a major issue in the electorate, and people have so many concerns.

I call on the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources to rule out a dam in northern New South Wales and taking water from northern New South Wales to Queensland. I make no apologies for standing up for the people of Richmond on this matter; our water and our water needs are of utmost importance, as are preserving our rivers, our ecosystems and our rural villages. These are my main concerns, and I want answers from the environment minister. I want him to rule out this dam in northern New South Wales and to rule out taking water from our area to Queensland.

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in the chamber today to object to the attempt by the Queensland Labor government to steal water from the Sunshine Coast to give to Brisbane, which is in a desperate situation because of the Labor government’s failure in the past to plan. The water issue has not been far from the front-page headlines in recent months, and there would be few who doubt that it will continue to be very prominent. We on the Sunshine Coast are very upset about the attempted move by the state Labor government to pipe water from our region’s largest water supply, Lake Baroon, to Brisbane. The extreme water shortages in south-east Queensland are the result of the Rudd Labor government’s failure to build the Wolfdene dam a number of years ago.

Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Rudd Labor government?

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was effectively the Rudd Labor government—when Wayne Goss was the premier, Kevin Rudd was his chief of staff. Lake Baroon is one of those facilities that will be linked via the water-grid network to a thirsty population in Brisbane. Local residents of the Sunshine Coast have been blessed with an adequate water supply as a result of sensible planning foresight by the Maroochy and Caloundra councils—and we may well pay a financial penalty for that foresight. Lake Baroon is relatively young, with its construction having been completed as recently as 1989. It covers some 380 hectares and is the main water supply for the Caloundra and Maroochy local government areas. It is located within a very efficient catchment, and it is not altogether unusual to have a relatively small downpour that makes a bigger than expected impact on water levels in the dam. When full, it holds a maximum of 61,000 megalitres.

The intention of the state Labor government is to pipe water from Lake Baroon to Brisbane. Brisbane has a number of other water supplies with much higher capacities. It is not hard to see that Lake Baroon would have little impact on the overall water demands of Brisbane, yet its connection to the water grid would come at considerable cost to local residents, who will find themselves suffering considerable water restrictions and, quite possibly, disastrous water shortages as well as increased water costs. We have also been told that it is possible that local Sunshine Coast residents will have to fund the cost of the pipeline which will take their resource away from them. That is astounding.

Water in south-east Queensland would not be the problem it is now had the Labor government taken sensible decisions in the past and planned for our increased population. It does seem that the state Labor government is determined to deprive Sunshine Coast residents of their planned water supplies by piping our water to Brisbane. If the water goes to Brisbane it will not make any difference to Brisbane but it will make a huge difference to the Sunshine Coast. I condemn the state Labor government.