Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Water management in the ACT is an issue that I am very passionate about. The ACT has some spectacular waterways. However, as is often the case in cities, sometimes these waterways have suffered as a result of the urbanisation of the surrounds. Since my election in 2012, I have been campaigning for the better protection and restoration of Canberra's waterways. In particular, I have been advocating the development of a number of wetlands in the Lake Tuggeranong area. I know that the ACT government, through federal funding, has received quite a significant investment to build a number of wetlands in the Tuggeranong region, but the people who spend a lot of time around that area cleaning it up, investing their time and their effort, and their heart and soul, into making sure that it is as pristine as possible believe that more wetlands are required.

I am a huge fan of wetlands. I had the good fortune when I had only just been elected to be one of the judges for the Australian Institute of Architects awards here in the ACT. You are probably wondering what architecture has got to do with wetlands. It has a lot to do with wetlands because a lot of what architects are now doing with commercial buildings is getting rid of those huge concrete drainage systems, those eyesores, and introducing wetlands as a way of getting rid of excess water, and, in the process, purifying water and creating a lovely natural environment where you get a number of little ecosystems being established through those wetlands. I am a huge fan of them, particularly because my electorate has a seam of concrete waterways running right through it from the top of the electorate right down to the bottom of the electorate, which causes all sorts of problems with the Lake Tuggeranong catchment and also with the Lake Burley Griffin catchment because there is so much unfiltered and unpurified water going into those significant lakes.

Beautiful Lake Tuggeranong is at the heart of the Tuggeranong community in my electorate. That is where my electorate office is. I see people walking around the lake, using it every day. They may be running, walking, walking with their babies, using the parks on the shores of the lake, having picnics or catching up with friends. I join with many residents of Tuggeranong in my concern for the lake's wellbeing as well as that of Lake Burley Griffin. That is why I have supported a community initiative for the restoration of the ecosystems of the Tuggeranong catchment. It is a project that will encourage and empower the community to become directly involved with the restoration of the lake through activities such as clean-ups and tree plantings. The project also has a long-term aim of developing a wetland area by the lake, which I know would be of huge benefit to the community and to the environment of Tuggeranong.

The bill we are debating today is an important step in the water management of the ACT. The bill will enable the ACT government to complete its responsibilities under the Murray-Darling Basin plan. For over a century, the Murray-Darling Basin has not been managed with a basin-wide plan. This has resulted in environmental degradation, a lack of resilience and an ongoing layer of uncertainty for basin communities. Members will have heard many times in this chamber about the ground-breaking work this government is doing to reform the management of the Murray-Darling Basin and this bill is another part of that reform. The Murray-Darling Basin plan requires that the ACT prepare a water resource plan that covers all of the territory's water resources as well is the Googong Dam. However, currently the management of water on national land in the ACT is a Commonwealth function and is not managed by the ACT government. This bill amends the Australian Capital Territory Planning and Land Management Act 1988, or the PALM Act, which regulates the management of land in the ACT so that the abstraction of water on national land is no longer managed by the Commonwealth government and can be managed by the ACT, consistent with the Basin Plan.

This bill enables the ACT government to take full responsibility for the management of water within the territory. Cooperative, consistent and efficient management arrangements of water extraction within the ACT will have long-term benefits for the sustainability of water resources within the territory. However, this bill is about more than water. By giving this responsibility to the ACT government, this bill is further recognition that the government of the ACT has well and truly come of age. The ACT achieved self-government in 1988 and I was privileged enough to work for our first Chief Minister, Rosemary Follett, shortly after that. I was there at the early stages of self-government when it was all pretty ratty and there were all sorts of interesting individuals who had been elected under all sorts of interesting party names. It was a very interesting time: the burgeoning—the early stages—of self-government. Not only did I have an interesting time in an interesting work environment, but I also got to meet my husband, which was an added benefit.

It was a privilege to be a part of the unfolding of self-government in the ACT and it has been a privilege to watch the ACT Legislative Assembly mature over the last 25 years. In 2011, I was proud to be part of this parliament when we passed laws to remove one of the most final and most significant barriers to the citizens of the ACT and the Northern Territory enjoying full democratic rights. This was the Territories Self-Government Legislation Amendment (Disallowance and Amendment of Laws) Act 2011, which removed the ability of federal parliamentarians to veto the laws made by the ACT government. This was an important step for ACT self-government, and so is the bill that we are debating today, which hands the important role of water management in the ACT to the ACT government, where it rightly belongs.

For over 25 years, the Legislative Assembly has been making laws for the peace, order and good governance of the ACT. It has grown to be a mature and stable chamber that is accountable to its constituents. As the former Chief Minister of the ACT John Stanhope said, from ambivalent beginnings, self-government is now firmly embedded in the consciousness of our community. The ACT, through its stable government and mature parliament, has embraced the social responsibilities with which it is charged. On average, Canberrans are among the healthiest, best educated and most prosperous in Australia. We are just, free and relatively free of prejudice. We have grown in population terms and as an indispensable presence in our region. We have also grown as a community and as a vibrant and engaged polity and increasingly we are recognised as such by a nation whose capital and seat of government we are proud to uphold and sustain.

Water management is an important responsibility and the ACT government has well and truly demonstrated that it is mature enough to manage this responsibility. This bill is not only an important milestone for our environment but an important milestone for the ACT. I commend it to the House.

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Canberra for her comments. I am sure that her husband is equally grateful for the opportunity—one of those things that come in life too rarely. Australian Capital Territory Water Management Legislation Amendment Bill 2013 gives the ACT government the power to manage its water resources for the development of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan among other things. There would be no-one in this House who would dispute the need for that. It transfers the power to manage water extraction and use within the ACT from the Commonwealth government to the ACT government. In particular, this bill will allow the ACT to establish a water resource plan under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

The changes in this bill are a consequence of the tabling of the basin plan last year. That plan requires a detailed water resource plan be developed for the ACT. However, under the current act, that plan would have needed to be establish by the Commonwealth government. This bill, as I said, transfers responsibility for the development of that plan to the ACT government and transfers broader powers to the ACT to manage its water resources.

While I certainly agree with the sentiment of the member for Canberra in relation to this bill, I cannot agree with her comments in regards to the current government leading ground-breaking work on the Murray-Darling Basin. In fact, the glacial pace of that reform under this government is a major concern to all involved. The coalition has always supported reforms to the Murray-Darling Basin that would deliver on triple bottom line outcomes to the environment, for communities and for the economy. Unfortunately, Murray-Darling Basin reform has slowed to a snail's pace—in fact, that is an exaggeration; it is probably not even glacial, let alone a snail's pace—under this current government. The latest evidence for that was made clear in the recent round of Senate estimates, where officials confirmed that under the Gillard government there still has not been a sign-off on the intergovernmental agreement with basin states, despite more than 25 drafts having been prepared and indications at the February Senate estimates that it was hoped to be completed soon. Three months on, there has still been no progress. Why aren't we surprised?

Officials also confirmed that the government still has not finalised a water recovery strategy, despite releasing a draft last November and having already recovered nearly 60 per cent of the water without a strategy in place. One wonders why people think this government does not know what it is doing. The government appears to have dumped the plan's actual implementation in the too hard basket. As the government obsesses over all of the things that do not matter to everyday Australians who want to see the country back on track, it has dropped the ball on securing vital implementation agreements.

Having already chronically underinvested in water saving infrastructure, Labor has also slashed buybacks for the 2013-14 year to their lowest level since 2007. Deferring more than $100 million in budget spending to the back end of this programs risks creating a spike in the water market, forcing prices higher and creating budgetary pressures beyond the forward estimates. And that is not unique to this portfolio. As well, this government has an appalling record on reform. It is mismanaged such a wide range of programs that there is no reason to think that it is up to the task of completing the Murray-Darling Basin reform.

In fact, the recent announcement that Victoria has signed up to the intergovernmental agreement on implementing the Murray-Darling Basin Plan leaves many questions still answered. While any progress on strategic implementation of the basin plan is welcome, the signing of just one state in a piecemeal step risks the process descending into chaos—and again there are plenty of current day analogies—confusion or counterproductive bidding wars by the states. The IGA was supposed to have been signed by all the states by 7 December 2012 at the 2012 Council of Australian Governments meeting, shortly after the basin plan was finalised in last November. The minister must explain why—and still has not—seven months after finalisation of the basin plan he has locked in an IGA with Victoria yet other states are still to agree on its terms. Does this mean that other states will have to sign on the IGA as agreed to be the Commonwealth and Victoria or will different agreements between the Commonwealth and each of the different states be required? These are just some of the unanswered questions raised by the government's approach to the Murray-Darling reform package.

Notwithstanding all these mistakes and blunders and the continuing uncertainty covering the government's ongoing failures in this area, the coalition understands the significance of Murray-Darling Basin reform and will support this bill.

Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank those who have contributed to the discussion on the Australian Capital Territory Water Management Legislation Amendment Bill 2013. I welcome the opposition's support for this bill. The bill before the House is a small but very important step to improving water management outcomes and resource sustainability. National water reform is an ongoing process. The making of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in November last year was a critical step forward. This bill will continue the improvement of water governance within the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the minister for achieving something that no other Commonwealth government has ever achieved before, and that is a plan to manage the Murray-Darling Basin. This bill will allow the Australian Capital Territory government to manage all water extraction in the ACT, including that on national land and that by Commonwealth agencies throughout the ACT. It will also allow the ACT government to manage the Googong Dam, which supplies water to the ACT. This bill will facilitate the implementation of the basin plan by enabling the ACT to prepare a basin plan compliant water resource plan covering all of the ACT's water resources and the Googong Dam. The passage of this bill through the parliament will allow the Commonwealth and the ACT to fulfil their obligations under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

This government is committed to delivering a healthy river, strong communities and sustainable food production. This bill will assist to deliver on that commitment by facilitating cooperative, consistent and effective management arrangements of the water extraction within the ACT. I thank all those who have contributed and commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Ordered that this bill be reported to the House without amendment.

Sitting suspended from 18:10 to 18 : 30