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

My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources. Minister, given there were no site visits in the preparation of the recent government report which proposed to dam the Tweed and Clarence Rivers, will the minister now accept an invitation to visit the town of Tyalgum in my electorate so that the minister can speak to the locals about the dam the government is proposing to build over their town?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question and the opportunity to clear up a misconception on her part. The government is not proposing to build a dam on the Tweed or the Clarence. The National Water Commission, at my request, commissioned SMEC, the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation, to do a desktop study—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler has already been warned.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

on a range of options for water storages on northern New South Wales rivers, as has been discussed for decades, going right back to Dr Bradfield and before. They have narrowed it down to half a dozen more promising options, which are set out in the report with the hydrological data so that they can be the basis of further discussion. I have not received an invitation to visit the charming town that the honourable member referred me to but I have had a discussion very recently with the chief executive of Tweed Shire and we have discussed an appropriate time when I can get together with him and the other shires and councils in northern New South Wales.

The water security of northern New South Wales and south-east Queensland is in crisis at the moment. And you only have to look at what Peter Beattie is doing to see what a crisis it is in. We have to start thinking about water like Australians. We have to recognise that water does not recognise lines on a map. We have to think about our water security as Australians, and we have to have every option on the table. If what the honourable member for Richmond is saying is that not a drop of water should ever pass the border—

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

Mrs Elliot interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Richmond is warned!

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

then she perfectly personifies the antiquated, selfish attitudes to water that have delivered our water management into the state it is today.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Banks is warned!

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is why the National Plan for Water Security is so vital to the water future of Australia, and that is why all Australians, and in particular the Premier of Victoria, need to commit to the National Plan for Water Security—because it does what Australians have known we need to do for more than a century: treat our interstate waters as Australian waters managed by the Australian government in the national interest.