Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move Greens amendments (3), (7) and (8) on sheet 5361:

(3)    Clause 20, page 36 (line 5), after “quantities of”, insert “and shares of”.

(7)    Clause 22, page 41 (table item 6, column 2), after “quantities of water”, insert “or share of water”.

(8)    Clause 22, page 41 (table item 7, column 2), after “quantities of water”, insert “or share of water”.

These amendments relate to the definition of a long-term sustainable diversion limit. Given the time, I am not going to go over the issues that I have talked about not that long ago in my speech in the second reading debate. These amendments, we believe, help define the long-term sustainable diversion limit better. We are also introducing the concept of a share of water. That is based, again, on evidence that Professor Mike Young presented. I thought he made a very useful contribution and also a very valuable suggestion. I will just read you the bit from the Hansard. Senator Heffernan had asked him a question about allocations and water use. Professor Young said:

That is very difficult to do quickly. Let me firstly make a very clear distinction between the northern half of the basin and the southern half of the basin. The northern half is best thought of as an event driven system where storages are largely on farms, and that is a very different situation from the southern system, which is a regulated system. In the north, if there is 35 per cent less water, then 35 per cent less would be taken, if the entitlements are defined as shares. I suggest and recommend that the committee consider amending the bill to talk ... more about shares and sharing the system.

He went on to say that he thought that could be done quite easily. That is what we are attempting to do here: introduce this concept of sharing the water. As I articulated in my speech on the second reading, we are very concerned to ensure that we do have a proper definition of a long-term sustainable diversion limit. These three amendments seek to define that and to put that in place.