Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to talk about World Plumbing Day, which is on 11 March. As Australians, we are members of what is known as the consumer class. We are a nation that has the ability to mine raw materials and consume goods and services, both man-made and from the land. As our country develops, so too does our level of consumption. To paint a picture for members, so that you understand our appetite for consumption, worldwide private consumption expenditure—which is the amount spent on goods and services at the household level—topped US$20 trillion in 2000, which was a fourfold increase from 1960, according to the Worldwatch Institute.

While we as a nation are constantly feeding this appetite, taking natural resources from the earth to do so, we forget that there are as many as 2.8 billion people on the planet who struggle to survive on less than $2 a day. Although I am sure members would agree that this is a startling statistic, this global inequity is reflected not just in our consumption of goods and services; it is also reflected in our consumption of natural resources. According to the UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water 2014, there are 2.5 billion people who lack access to improved sanitation, 1 billion people who still practice open defecation, 748 million people who lack access to improved drinking water and 1.8 billion people who use a source of drinking water that is faecally contaminated.

Australia commits millions of dollars in foreign aid every year to a large number of third world countries to assist with the provision of clean drinking water, creating a sanitary environment and providing those other things Australians take for granted such as shelter and education. Because of the first world infrastructure our country has developed, it is often easy to forget how lucky we are. We turn on our taps and we have clean drinking water, or we flush our toilets and our waste is removed—once again creating a sanitary environment. What Australians need to remember is that clean water is not a luxury and that we as a global community need to work together to preserve this important resource.

For those members who are not aware, 11 March is World Plumbing Day, which is an annual celebration to recognise the significant role the plumbing industry plays in ensuring that public health is maintained, as well as the health of our environment. It is an international event which was established by the World Plumbing Council in 2010. As the council states on their website, it was established to:

…educate the general public about the work the plumbing industry performs to conserve the world's overstretched sources of drinking water…

This provision of safe water and sanitation is something we all need to be conscious of, and I congratulate the World Plumbing Council for the work they have done to date in raising awareness of this important issue. I also note the contribution of the Master Plumbers and Gasfitters in Western Australia, and plumbers everywhere, for the work they do every day to ensure we continue to enjoy the high standard of living that we have.

I first learnt about the World Plumbing Day from my good friend Stuart Henry, who was the Liberal member for Hasluck from October 2004 to November 2007. He was then overtaken by my fellow colleague Ken Wyatt, who was elected to this place in 2010. The electorate of Hasluck borders my electorate of Swan, so Ken and I take a keen interest in what is happening in each other's patch. I learnt a lot from Stuart during my own election to this place and when he was retiring, and it was great of him to alert me about the World Plumbing Day. These days, along with many other organisations he is part of, Stuart is on the secretariat of the World Plumbing Council and has worked hard to bring this annual World Plumbing Day event to the attention of members and to the attention of the community. To celebrate this event, to continue raising awareness of the vital role plumbers play in preserving our drinking water, plumbing organisations around the world will be undertaking a range of activities. I encourage all members to get involved if they have the opportunity—even the member for Grayndler could get involved if he so wished.

What many people do not know is that the estimated total amount of fresh water available on our globe is about 35 million cubic kilolitres, but it is reported that less than one per cent of this is good for human consumption. So while water may surround us, that does not mean it is in abundance. That is why a key focus of the plumbing industry is highlighting water re-use in homes and businesses. This includes such concepts as rainwater harvesting, greywater systems and sewage recycling, while processes such as desalination, where salt water is converted to drinkable fresh water, are always being developed.

The key here is trying to strike the right balance between cost, energy consumption and conservation in order to increase world water efficiency and conservation. With that in mind, I encourage members in this place to expand the work of the council by promoting the following everyday concepts to their constituents: automatically shutting off taps, ensuring leaks are attended to promptly, using minimum water for our daily needs and harvesting rainwater. I also encourage them to show their support for the council and plumbers around the world by promoting World Plumbing Day on March 11.