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

Hang on! Senator Nash has had a go about the fact that we bought entitlement, not water. I think she knows enough about irrigation to know that that is what you buy. I am sure that a government that was seen by any irrigator to be giving itself a different type of entitlement—that is, one that was more reliable, particularly in the context of reduced water availability, which I will come to in a moment—would be roundly and rightly criticised. We buy entitlement; we buy what other water users buy and we stand in the shoes of other water users. The difference between us and those on the other side is that for the first time the government is doing it for the health of the rivers. We understand the benefits to all communities of ensuring that we have functioning and healthy rivers. That is what has been lacking over the years.

I am not sure what Senator Nash was speaking about in terms of lack of rain. The point I was making about availability is that—and this is where climate change appears to be having an impact, on the evidence that we see from scientists—not only have we seen reduced rainfall in parts of Australia but also we are seeing reduced water availability, reduced inflow. People tell me different things in different areas about why run-off is less, why the ground is drier and why the temperature is higher. We are certainly seeing different patterns emerging in different catchments of the basin, which is compounding the difficulties for many communities and really emphasises why we need to make the adjustment that has to be made.

I also make this point: I said last night in terms of the Sugarloaf Pipeline amendment—which was then the subject of a bit of political game playing from the other side—that the bill that Malcolm Turnbull introduced did not have any proposition about stopping that pipeline or other pipelines despite the fact that that announcement came before Mr Turnbull introduced the bill as minister. So in the last year, having crossed over to the opposition benches, they now want to play politics with that.

A second point I would make is that when the now opposition was government they wanted to purchase water. The Howard plan trumpeted on, I think, Australia Day of 2007 that they had $3.1 billion for water purchase. They never actually did anything with it, Senator Siewert. We know that and I hope people occasionally remember that. They never actually bought anything or invested in any infrastructure or provided any assistance but they did have $3.1 billion for water purchase. I do not recall Mr Howard or Mr Turnbull demanding community impact statements in the legislation. This is their legislation. They were going to purchase water but it is only now that Liberal senators come in here and demand for a purchase program community impact statements that they never demanded of their own government.

I am very aware, as the responsible minister, of the importance of engaging with communities through this process. I am also very aware of some of the concerns raised by some members of the public and by some communities. And I am also very aware of some of the recommendations which have been made by our stakeholder consultation and by the review. What I can say is that we will continue to improve this purchase program. We will ensure that the results of the current tender round are also assessed and considered so that we can look at how we can improve this purchase program.

I also want to emphasise—and this might be in the context of the next amendment to be moved by the opposition—that we are investing $5.8 billion in irrigation infrastructure for these communities. That is substantially more than we are proposing to purchase in terms of the amount of money. So it is very clear that the government does regard investment in these communities as a key and important aspect of adjustment to climate change, and knows that it is important to deal with the current circumstances of drought and the legacy of mismanagement of overallocation that has been inherited.