Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Every day of every week and every year across the Murray-Darling Basin, $5 million to $6 million is being lost in food and fibre production. That is per day. These calculations are based on ABARES statistics. This loss in value to the private enterprises and to the nation is not a consequence of drought, flood or pestilence. These losses are a consequence of substantially less water now being available to irrigators and the huge prices the remaining water now commands on the corrupted, unregulated temporary water markets. The water irrigators once had now resides in the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder bucket.

I am deeply concerned about the future of farming and food manufacturing—activities that not only feed the nation but create employment across the basin. In 2006, Goulburn-Murray irrigators had an entitlement of 1,600 gigalitres to grow our food. There were over 2,700 dairy farmers, for example, supporting 50 towns and two cities. Today there is only an entitlement of some 1,000 gigalitres—a decline of 57 per cent—and we only have 1,100 dairy farmers left. Youth unemployment in the region is now at over 25 per cent. Irrigator water access in South Australia has dropped by over 40 per cent and those irrigators are now deeply concerned and troubled. There has been a similar drop in New South Wales.

Unfortunately the previous Labor government committed $1 billion of federal taxpayers' money to further reduce the footprint of the Goulburn-Murray irrigation system so that another 204 gigalitres of farm water could be added to the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder's bucket of 2,372 gigalitres—the biggest entitlement in Australia. The CEHW, as we call it, has not been able to utilise all of this water for the environment since its bucket filled. Often the seasonal conditions mean the ecosystem does not require water, or the water simply cannot be forced down the rivers and streams. CEHW has now identified 20 gigalitres that it does not need for the environment this year and so intends to put that back into the temporary water market. We applaud this and cannot wait for this 20 gigalitres to be released onto the Goulburn system market. It is excellent news.

I am deeply concerned, however, that the speculators who now crowd the temporary water market will grab this water, pushing prices even higher than the $300 per megalitre reached last week. I am calling on the VicSuper superannuation fund, the Melbourne Water Authority and the South Australian government to not raid this 20 gigalitres, this opportunity to buy this water. Please leave it for irrigators to grow food—Australia's dairy product, the fruit, the meats, the cereals. Let the irrigators in South Australia buy this water instead of having it flushed down the toilets of Adelaide. Turn on your desalinisation plant if you need that water. Do not raid the food producers' water.

In all of this, we are talking about employment and we are talking about the food security of the nation. Enough is enough. This temporary water market is corrupted. It must be reviewed and managed in the future. But right now, give us a go. (Time expired)