Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator McEwen for her question and for her ongoing interest in the approach that this government is taking to tackle the very serious problems in the Murray-Darling Basin—another one of those legacies left by the Howard government through their failure to invest in the basin over 12 years in government. The Howard government left us with a legacy of inaction in the basin because they were simply not prepared to think long term and make the hard decisions. In addition to investing $3.1 billion for purchasing water entitlements to improve the health of the rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin, our government is also investing $5.8 billion to make irrigation infrastructure more efficient.

We know that we are in a time of unprecedented low inflows. In the last 37 months it is the case that monthly inflows into the Murray system have been below average, and those who are interested in the most recent Bureau of Meteorology projections would know that they are projecting a hotter than average summer in the basin—a further reminder of what we are up against. The fact is that in a changing climate we do have to do more with less, and I am pleased to say that this government is already progressing $3.7 billion worth of priority water infrastructure projects through COAG. Last Friday I visited Tailem Bend—and Senator Minchin would know where that is—to inspect and announce the continued construction of pipeline works that will deliver water from Tailem Bend and Strathalbyn to houses currently drawing water from the Lower Lakes or from depleted groundwater sources. I am advised that around three kilometres of pipes are being laid every day. This is a pipeline that is going in now and that will provide potable water to those communities. This is in recognition of the difficult situation that those communities face. The pipeline works are part of the government’s $610 million commitment to priority projects to benefit the Murray River and Lower Lakes in South Australia. These are in addition to our urban water commitments announced during the election and given force in the budget.

I contrast that to what happened when those opposite were in government. Despite announcing their botched $10 billion takeover in January 2007, the Howard government had not commenced a single infrastructure project under this plan when they left office some 11 months later. Perhaps this is because they could not agree amongst themselves how to spend the money. We have, for example, Mr Pyne saying we need to spend $1 billion on water purchases immediately but Mr Cobb saying water purchases make the drought worse. What this demonstrates is that those opposite simply say one thing in one community and one thing in another. They simply are not prepared to take the hard decisions and make long-term investments. They simply tell people in each area of the basin what they want to hear and they never run a consistent policy position when it comes to the Murray-Darling Basin. This government is prepared to make the long-term investments and to take the hard decisions on the Murray-Darling Basin.