David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Hansard source

This is a classic example of the capacity of the opposition in this place to want to bask in the glory of a good initiative and yet nitpick and be dragged kicking and screaming to some policy position. That is the thing with Labor: they do not want to do any of the hard work and come up with an initiative of their own; they simply want to sit back and say, ‘Yes, we support it but, oh, we don’t like this part of it and we don’t like that part of it.’ They have done none of the hard work to get to any policy position that has any credibility.

The government do not support this referral for the reasons set out by Senator Siewert; we want to get on with the job. We have a drought on; this water crisis is very crucial and needs to be addressed. We want to see things start to happen. Yet, Senator Siewert in the very same breath says, ‘We are happy to muddle along and send this off to a committee to review.’ I want to know what the ALP’s position really is on this. Do they want to muddle along or do they want to get on with the job and actually address water in the Murray-Darling? Do they want to address water? I do not think they do; they just want to try to score a few cheap political points because they have not got any policy. They have been sitting on their backsides for the last 10 years and suddenly they realise that an election is coming up. They think: ‘We might get elected—gee, we’d better have some policies. Knock us down with a feather! The Prime Minister has announced a $10 billion plan to try to fix the Murray-Darling. What are we going to do? We’d better get on board. It could be embarrassing.’

The projected drought and the prospect of long-term climate change underscore the need to make dramatic improvements in water management practices. The Murray-Darling Basin is overallocated. Current levels of water use are not sustainable and future inflows to the basin are expected to reduce at a rate of around 10 to 15 per cent per decade—around 3,200 gigalitres by 2020. Governance of the Murray-Darling Basin has been poor. The cap is not complied with and voting arrangements guarantee that lowest common denominator decisions are made. This issue cannot be addressed without radical change. The National Water Initiative signed by the Commonwealth and all the state and territory governments is a gold standard framework for water management, but implementation by some of the states has been lagging in key areas. If the above realities are ignored, both the irrigation sector and the health of our waterways are at risk—hence the Prime Minister’s proactive steps.

The objective of the Prime Minister’s $10 billion National Plan for Water Security is to increase productivity with less water use while improving the health of our key river systems. The focus of the plan is on rural Australia, where more than 70 per cent of water occurs. This will give states additional capacity to address urban water storage by requiring a combination of better planning, increased investment and full cost-recovery pricing. The plan will focus on dramatically lifting water use efficiency in irrigation schemes nationally as well as addressing the serious issues of water overallocation in the Murray-Darling Basin. Improved governance arrangements will mean that more consistent decisions may be applied across the basin as well as a streamlined water-trading regime as a common template for catchment water sharing plans and a basin-wide environmental watering plan. The $10 billion National Plan for Water Security is a bold new initiative that will accelerate the National Water Initiative and build on work begun under the Living Murray initiative and the $2 billion Australian government Water Fund. With strong leadership from the Commonwealth these combined initiatives are Australia’s greatest opportunity to put water management on a sustainable footing within a decade.

I turn to the state of the Murray-Darling hydrology report. This report will assist us to better understand the hydrology of the Darling Basin and the complex water management issues faced by the region. It will provide a useful contribution into considerations on future directions for water management in the Darling Basin. The Prime Minister’s National Plan for Water Security ensures that the northern Murray-Darling Basin will be included in the work that the Australian government will be undertaking in addressing the ongoing water management issues in the Murray-Darling Basin. The Australian government is also supporting actions that will improve the health of some key environmental assets in the northern Murray-Darling Basin. For example, we are providing around $85 million to support programs in New South Wales to improve the health of important wetlands such as the Gwydir Wetlands and the Macquarie Marshes.

Turning to the World Wildlife Fund report, which says that the Murray-Darling Basin is one of the most threatened river systems in the world, I want to say that sustainable and efficient water use is a prime objective of the government’s $10 billion National Plan for Water Security. The programs in the plan to improve irrigation efficiency and deal with overallocation will make more water available for the river systems in the long run. This will include increased water to improve river health. The World Wildlife Fund’s report highlights the problems in the system. Current arrangements in the Murray-Darling Basin are hampered by parochial interests, blame shifting—and we all know about blame shifting across the chamber here—underresourcing by state governments and avoidance of difficult decisions such as implementing the cap on diversions. And of course the states have been dilatory in following through and enforcing their own rules.

The Commonwealth needs a broad referral of powers for the management of water resources in the basin to deliver the outcomes that all Australians expect to be delivered. The government is concerned about the impact of climate change on the Murray-Darling Basin. The Prime Minister and the Murray-Darling Basin state premiers at the 7 November 2006 Water Summit commissioned the CSIRO to report by the end of 2007 on sustainable yields of surface and groundwater systems within the Murray-Darling Basin, including in the light of climate change. This work is now under way and involved a considerable commitment of resources by the CSIRO.

Also the government is helping to fund the three-year $7 million South Eastern Australian Climate Initiative. The work of the South Eastern Australian Climate Initiative will be used in the CSIRO sustainable yield project. These two projects are complementary and together will contribute to our understanding and management of this important issue for the Murray-Darling Basin. And I pause to say that we did not need a committee report to get on with the job and provide these important initiatives. The Australian government expects jurisdictions to complete the Living Murray initiative water recovery commitments of up to 500 gigalitres by June 2009. There are already four projects approved by jurisdictions that will recover 240 gigalitres costing $179 million. The Australian government’s role in water recovery has primarily been as an investor while the states are committed to developing water recovery projects. We have consistently pursued the states through the Murray-Darling Basin Commission processes to bring forward projects and investment plans for the approved projects, but to this point they have not been so willing to come to the party. That is the problem. One response from government has been to request tenders for water savings through efficiency measures, which are currently being assessed.

In talking about farmers, the National Plan for Water Security will increase water security for irrigators, the community and the environment. It will do this by improving productivity of water use, reducing wastage, giving irrigators greater opportunity to trade, improving monitoring and management as well as buying water entitlements. Given the level of overallocation in the basin, achieving the objective of secure water entitlements cannot be achieved without reducing use. In addition to efficiency measures, this will require buying some water entitlements and it may require the closure of some inefficient channel systems or those at risk of salinity. Irrigation companies and industry councils will be asked to help develop measures to improve water use efficiency in particular areas. There is no intention to compulsorily acquire water entitlements. The CSIRO sustainable yield project will inform the development of a new sustainable cap for the Murray-Darling Basin. There will also be socioeconomic analysis and community consultation as part of the development of the new cap. Current state water shares and water-sharing plans will be maintained as per the Murray-Darling Basin agreement. However, the new cap will need to be reflected in catchment water plans when they are revised and at the end of the current terms.

With respect to disconnecting wetlands, contingency planning to secure urban water supplies in the southern Murray-Darling Basin during 2007 and 2008 have been considered by officials at the Prime Minister’s and premiers’ request. The Acting Prime Minister and premiers recently agreed to implement some measures immediately, including disconnecting selected permanent wetlands that are artificially inundated. The wetlands proposed for disconnection are generally those that have been artificially inundated with permanent water because they are used to store water. Under natural conditions it is likely that these wetlands would be dry in the current season, and drought and disconnection may help mimic a more natural wetting and drying regime which is likely to be beneficial providing they receive flooding waters in future when required. Wetlands, where disconnection would be problematic in terms of environmental and cultural heritage impacts, will not be affected by this measure. Any action that will or is likely to have an impact on matters of national environmental significance will be the subject of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

The $10 billion National Plan for Water Security announced by the Prime Minister on 25 January this year aims to dramatically improve water use efficiency in the river systems of the Murray-Darling Basin. Implementation of the plan will restore the health of wetlands in the basin and the Australian government is helping to improve environmental flows. On World Wetlands Day over $91 million for six projects for restoring water to Australia’s wetlands was announced by our government. The Water Smart Australia program is providing $7.7 million to a project that will increase flows into the Coorong with benefits to nearby wetlands. The Living Murray initiative is also improving environmental flows to icon sites in South Australia. I can assure the Senate that the Prime Minister’s plan is a very good one. It is a bold one and it is being implemented as I speak. It is happening now. We do not need to refer matters to a Senate committee. We cannot afford to wait any longer. Let us get on with the job.

Question negatived.

(Quorum formed)