Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Or in a helicopter like Steve Bracks, flying over Melbourne. These Labor governments have taken taxpayer funded advertising to new heights of political opportunism. I look forward to seeing Mr Rudd bring an end to that. He needs to hurry up, because it was only a few weeks ago that I heard Mr Rann on radio yet again. Perhaps next time Mr Rudd is sitting down with the Labor Party’s national president, he could suggest that he follow the lead he is trying to set on blatant political advertising. Of course, we also look forward to fixing issues like broadband and communications—issues that the government again made great noise about.

In particular, as a South Australian, I look forward to the government successfully tackling the challenges we face on water management, issues which Senators Joyce and Heffernan before me have both spoken of. As a South Australian, I am well aware of the challenges faced by the Murray-Darling Basin system. 2007 was the driest ever year for inflows into the system. Prior to that, 2006 was the driest ever year for inflows into the system. It is pretty clear that that track record of driest ever inflows into the system is creating a very dire situation. It is causing pain for a lot of communities around the Murray-Darling system. Irrigators, as we are well aware, are suffering the pain of lost income, lost livelihood and diminishing property values. These are people whose family properties are often under threat now and whose future looks very grim indeed.

I spent some time recently with houseboat and tourism operators along the river system. They are, perhaps, the forgotten victims of the system and are people who are really caught on a double-edged sword on this issue. In most parts, the river, from a tourism perspective, is still quite accessible. Houseboats can still sail. Indeed, in some ways, the drop in river levels and the drought have created a unique opportunity. There are now sandy banks along the edges of the river. For the uneducated in terms of the river management, it looks quite attractive in places. There are things there that you would never have expected to see before. But the constant negative press about the river—necessary, perhaps, to get the attention required to see long-term solutions—has the ill effect of driving tourists away in droves. Our tourism operators are suffering, as they wish to see those long-term solutions but also wish to encourage tourists to continue to travel to and enjoy the river.

The cities of Adelaide, Whyalla, Port Augusta, Port Pirie, Broken Hill and many other towns in my home state are suffering and stressed over the availability of urban water supplies going into the future. State governments have for too long failed to secure alternative means of obtaining those water supplies. We are now seeing the stresses that this places on those communities. Then there is the environment. The environment is particularly stressed in this situation. The river Murray mouth, which has been dredged for many years now to keep it open, is truly suffering as a result of this prolonged drought. The Coorong, a Ramsar listed site of particular environmental importance, is struggling from the lack of freshwater inflows and is at serious risk. Many other lakes and reserves, such as Lake Alexandrina, are equally suffering under the driest ever conditions in the Murray-Darling Basin. This is the gravest of situations. While we have seen some drought-breaking rains in the north-east of Australia that are extremely welcome, they are doing little for additional flows into the Murray-Darling system, particularly down into the Murray. This grave situation is going to continue.

Labor came to office with some big promises on water, especially on the future of the river Murray. They promised the restoration of some 500 billion litres of water flows as a matter of urgency, and 1,500 billion litres of environmental flows over the next decade. They also promised to bring forward some of the expenditure on the National Plan for Water Security that John Howard announced just prior to Australia Day last year. This was greeted with much fanfare at the time and there was also much criticism from the then Labor opposition of the slow pace of expenditure on the National Plan for Water Security. They promised to bring forward $100 million of expenditure into this year, the 2007-08 financial year. This was an election commitment to encourage Australians to believe that Labor were serious about addressing water.

What did we discover during Senate estimates in talking with the water minister? Not that $100 million was going to be brought forward. Apparently, that was unachievable. The minister had not thought to see whether that was achievable at the time of making the promise. Only $15 million will be brought forward into this financial year—only $15 million out of $100 million. But, as they say in those classic commercials, wait, there is more, because, while $15 million is being brought forward, $50 million worth of programs under the National Plan for Water Security have fallen to the government’s razor gang. So the government promised to bring $100 million forward, is only bringing $15 million forward and has actually cut $50 million out. If my maths is correct, that is a $35 million cut in expenditure in the National Plan for Water Security in this financial year. This is the government’s first great delivery on the Murray-Darling Basin and on trying to ensure the water security for all of Australia. South Australians, sitting at the end of the system, have every right to be extremely disappointed that the government cannot live up to that promise and that the Minister for Climate Change and Water, a South Australian senator, cannot deliver for her home state on this first basic promise that Labor made to support the environment and particularly water.

We have negotiations for agreement on the National Plan for Water Security going along at a snail’s pace. We have the Prime Minister dodging any responsibility for it. He refused to place water on the COAG agenda for the first meeting of Labor premiers and leaders after the election in December. After refusing to place it on the agenda, he gave the then acting South Australian Premier, Kevin Foley, the assurance that he was committed to taking Premier Rann and Premier Brumby aside and dealing with the impasse in the new year as soon as he was able to. We are a long way into the new year and Prime Minister Rudd has not met with Premier Rann and Premier Brumby. He has not taken them aside, as he promised, to deal with this. Indeed, what he said on his last visit to Adelaide was: ‘Discussions with Victoria will be conducted at her’—Senator Wong’s—‘level and in due course at my level once we have narrowed the gap in terms of the negotiating position.’ Talk about buck passing. He has handballed it off to Senator Wong and only wants to step in and take the credit when it has all been negotiated. We will be looking to hold the government to account on its many promises. But I in particular will be looking to hold it to account on the delivery of more water flows for the river Murray and water security for all South Australians, particularly those in Adelaide.