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

I wish to indicate to Senator Siewert a couple of things. The government is not proposing to support this. In part, there is a possibility that the amendments, as they are drafted, may well confuse the interpretation of the act. I would also ask Senator Siewert, on this issue, to have regard to the existing definitions in the act, under section 23, subsection (2), which makes it very clear that:

A long-term average sustainable diversion limit for the Basin water resources, for the water resources of a particular water resource plan area or for a particular part of those water resources may be specified:

(a)  as a particular quantity of water per year; or

(b)  as a formula or other method that may be used to calculate a quantity of water per year; or

(c)  in any other way that the Authority determines to be appropriate.

So, in the government’s view, that section of the existing act already allows the authority to take into account the dynamic nature of water availability in the basin, including different climatic and hydrological regimes. This section that I have just outlined would allow the long-term average sustainable diversion limit to be expressed as a share if the authority considered it to be appropriate pursuant to section 23, subsection (2C). The use of the term ‘average’ in the defined term of long-term average sustainable diversion limit, as I have indicated before, simply reflects the fact that averages provide a useful metric for communicating a diversion limit, which will itself, obviously, be based on a more complex formula that takes into account natural variability.

Question negatived.