Tony Windsor (New England, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As chair of the Standing Committee on Regional Australia, I rise to inform the House of a committee decision to relate certain areas of concern to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities and the Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government.

On 9 February I wrote to both ministers conveying the concerns of all committee members which arose from a series of hearings and inspections we had undertaken as part of our inquiry into the proposed guide to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

Specifically, the committee has sought that the ministers investigate three matters. The first relates to the impact of the so-called Swiss cheese effect of water buybacks on irrigation districts. We are of the view that the government needs to urgently consider a more strategic buyback arrangement that may be implemented. The second matter relates to the impact of the current taxation arrangements on irrigators as a result of water reform such as grants for investment in water efficiency. The third relates to the implications of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s consideration of overbank flows in their modelling of the water requirements of the environmental icon sites and, in consultation with stakeholders, opportunities for engineering alternatives.

These issues were consistently raised during a nine-day program of site inspections and hearings we held across the southern basin in January. I thank all members of the committee, some in the parliament at the moment, for the way in which they gave up a great period of their normal break in January to participate in the hearings.

The committee is concerned that the issues that I have just mentioned need to be addressed as a matter of priority. The committee is of a consensus view that these issues be brought to the government’s attention prior to the tabling of its report. The Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities has since indicated that the government has commenced action on the first and second matters raised by the committee. The third matter, amongst other things, will be discussed at a meeting between the Commonwealth minister and his counterparts for state and territory jurisdictions scheduled in April.

The committee has now visited and taken evidence in each of the basin jurisdictions except Queensland. We are due to visit St George, Cubbie Station near Dirranbandi and Goondiwindi in that state in mid-March. We will conclude our evidence gathering by honouring a commitment to visit Swan Hill on 30 March. The committee had previously intended to go to Swan Hill in January but cancelled the visit due to the recent Victorian floods.

In concluding, I thank all members of the committee for their continuing strong support for the inquiry. As has been mentioned on a number of occasions, as we have travelled around various parts of the basin the committee has worked very well together. The fact that we have come up with some interim recommendations, two of which have already been accepted by the government, I think is recognition of the work that the committee is doing.

I also thank the many, many communities—whether they be entitlement holders, community leaders or just concerned businesspeople—who we have met during this period. We have had an extraordinary reception, in my view, from people many of whom were frightened by the initial ‘Guide to the proposed Basin Plan’ that the Murray-Darling Basin Authority put out. The way in which the committee members—Labor, Liberal, National and independent—have worked together in a semi-osmotic process suggested to people within the communities that we are serious about trying to resolve this and we believe that there may be other ways of resolving ways it than the fairly blunt instrument that the authority put in place. I think with community support there can be a solution that will be delivered later in the year or early next year.

Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for New England for his excellent chairing of the Standing Committee on Regional Australia. It is nice to have some of our colleagues, the member for Barker and the member for Makin, with us today. It is a hardworking and dedicated committee made up of mainly regional members who are both affected by and live in the basins that are subject to the initial guide and some of its recommendations.

I remind colleagues of the importance of the Murray-Darling Basin itself. It ‘is an area of national environmental, economic and social significance’. This is certainly recognised by the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Mr Burke, and the Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government, Mr Crean, in their interpretation of what should happen in the basin.

It contains Australia’s three longest rivers, the Darling, the Murray and Murrumbidgee—as well as nationally and internationally significant environmental assets, such as wetlands, billabongs and floodplains … The Basin is Australia’s most significant agricultural area, and produces around $15 billion of produce annually. It extends across four states and the Australian Capital Territory, and is home to over two million people.

The committee itself has been burrowing away fairly productively since December. Indeed, something like 600 submissions have been received by the committee and its hardworking secretariat. I must pay tribute to the secretariat, the terrific work they are doing and the support that they are giving the committee. We have been on the road for 14 days going to 13 major locations spread across New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria. As the chair mentioned, we are soon to go to Queensland and laer, to make sure we honour our commitment to go to Swan Hill, in Victoria.

We have been to Broken Hill, the Menindee Lakes, the Coorong, the Lower Lakes and the mouth of the River Murray, Murray Bridge, Mildura, Bendigo, Shepparton, Deniliquin, Griffith, Tamworth, Gunnedah, Bourke and Dubbo. We are soon to go to St George, Dirranbandi and Goondiwindi in Queensland. That gives some appreciation of where we have been and where we are going. The committee has also had numerous meetings—in fact, we now meet twice a week—to take submissions and to hear directly from witnesses. We thank all those people who have gone out of their way to makes submissions; they have been excellent in their concern. They share that with the committee.

As the chair mentioned, the committee were concerned to get some of the issues that we had picked up time and time again on the road communicated to Minister Burke. I have been really pleased that the minister responded in his Dubbo irrigation meeting forum on 18 February. I think it indicates that there is not only a willingness to make sure that we arrive at some consensus to deal with the environmental, the economic and the social but also a preparedness to act. I believe the tone within the Murray Darling Basin Authority has changed, particularly with the change in chair, and our meetings with them seem to indicate a preparedness to substantially look at the implications of their recommendations. We find that very important and encouraging.

The chair has alluded to some of the issues raised from going around the country and getting submissions, particularly the use of strategic buybacks. I think a greater recognition of prior works and measures invested by communities and state governments is important. Other issues are the rollout of infrastructure in investments, including the resolution of the taxation issues that the chair commented on earlier, and accounting and measuring environmental works. Measures as a means of reducing the gap required to achieve the SDLs are really important. It is okay to have accountability on the use of irrigation waters, for instance, but we also need similar measures and accountability on the use of environmental waters, just to name some. I think the committee is working well and I thank all my fellow members for their hard work.