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

I move opposition amendment (1) on sheet 5657:

(1)    Schedule 1, item 1, page 11 (after line 2), after subsection 18H(1), insert:

     (1A)    Until the States of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia have each achieved the objective of increasing the flow of water in the River Murray as required by the Living Murray Initiative, these States’ water savings programs are to be independently audited and, as soon as the saved water becomes available, the water must be allocated to the Living Murray Initiative and must not be used for any other purpose.

This amendment goes to the Living Murray Initiative. People will be very aware of these water saving programs under this initiative. The amendment is aimed at preserving saved water for environmental flows. The amendment’s purpose is to ensure that water saved through the Living Murray Initiative is not held back from the Murray but is returned to it. It is a very straightforward amendment. We think it is an entirely appropriate amendment to include in what has been a very long list of amendments. It actually enforces the government’s own EPBC decision that the north-south pipeline should not use Living Murray water.