Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Water Resources and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

I move opposition amendment (1) on sheet 5664 revised:

(1)    Schedule 2, page 318 (after line 32), after item 162, insert:

162G  At the end of Part 12

Add:

263 Lower Lakes and Coorong emergency assistance

        (1)    As soon as practicable after the commencement of this section, the Government must determine an assistance package of a minimum $50 million for Lower Lakes and Coorong communities to help farmers, small businesses, tourism and community sectors to respond to the crisis caused by the lack of water.

        (2)    Payments of assistance in accordance with a scheme determined under subsection (1) are to be made from money appropriated by the Parliament for that purpose.

There has been a lot of discussion, particularly over the last few months, about the Lower Lakes and the Coorong. Indeed, I participated in one of the inquiries that went to the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport looking particularly into the state of the Lower Lakes and the Coorong and into what arrangements might be necessary to assist. It looked at, initially, the state determining whether there was any water able to go south to the Lower Lakes and the Coorong and what steps governments should take to remedy the situation. One of the recommendations that came forward from coalition senators at that time was that there was a very distinct need for assistance for the Coorong and the Lower Lakes given the very dire situation that they were in.

With this amendment we are intending to require the government to determine an assistance package of a minimum of $50 million for the Lower Lakes and the Coorong. This is to assist communities, farmers, small businesses and the tourism and community sectors to respond to the crisis which has been caused by this lack of water. We think it is an entirely appropriate amendment. We believe that the financial assistance that would then be put forward from the government would go a significant way to alleviating the hardship being experienced by the people in that region at the moment.