Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Training and Sport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to speak on the issue of water security for Adelaide and the Murray-Darling river system. We now have a situation where the Murray River ceases to flow through the Murray mouth 40 per cent of the time. I can remember when the Murray first closed in recent times, in 1981. That was seen as a rare event. We now see that happening 40 per cent of the time. The recent report of the Murray-Darling Basin Sustainable Yields Project, which was handed down in November, states that total flows at the Murray mouth have reduced by 61 per cent. The report also shows that by 2030 flows at the mouth will reduce by a further 24 to 30 per cent. This is grim news for South Australia and it is grim news for people who rely on flows in the Murray for their water supply and for human needs.

That is one of the reasons that in January 2007 the Howard government announced $10 billion of work in infrastructure to go towards the Murray-Darling river system. It is of real concern that, while there has been a lot of spending announced by the government over the last four to five months, there has been nothing for water infrastructure. It is estimated that $6 billion had already been set aside by the former government. If that were used, it could save up to 600 million litres of water. Unfortunately, instead of that, Kevin Rudd and Penny Wong are voting to take more water out of the Murray-Darling Basin. They voted in favour of building a pipeline from the Goulburn River to Melbourne, which will take 75 million litres of water per year out of the Murray-Darling Basin. At the same time, the minister says that there is not enough water in the Murray-Darling Basin to save the Lower Lakes. If there is not enough water in the system to save the Lower Lakes, why did the federal government vote to take out an extra 75 million litres of water per year? They also voted against a $50 million assistance package for the people around the Lower Lakes.

The people of the Lower Lakes and everyone else living in the Murray-Darling Basin who rely on a health system to survive are sick of hearing about who is to blame. They are sick of hearing about how years of mismanagement have delivered us this mess. They do not want to see another cheap headline that delivers nothing; they want to hear solutions for today and tomorrow. The issue of water security and the state of the Murray River is one of the major issues that constituents raise with me, and it is one of my priorities in representing the seat of Boothby. I am very pleased to be holding a water forum next week in my electorate with the shadow minister for the environment, climate change and water, the member for Flinders. Travelling around the electorate, the lack of water is very obvious. People’s gardens are bone dry We have had years of water restrictions. Parks and school ovals have turned into dustbowls. Unfortunately, we have a state government that have dragged their feet on anything to do with water security.

In September 2007 I launched a petition in my electorate, calling on the state government to act on a desalination plant. This petition received over 8,000 signatures. I am pleased that a desalination plant is now going ahead. This is a good way forward, and it will provide water security for Adelaide in the future. I think it is a real shame that we had to wait as long as we did. I was also very pleased to be associated with the Community Water Grant Program. The last round of this in 2007 saved 73 million litres of water in the electorate of Boothby alone. It was a great program and it really worked well with schools, sporting clubs and other community organisations. It is a real shame that the government have given no incentives for the community to save water and have not continued with that program.