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

This really goes to the issue I was discussing with Senator Milne and Senator Nash. That is precisely why we have said we have a policy commitment that would include conditions for forests to have adequate water entitlements and planning approvals. I reference that, in response to Senator Milne and also to Senator Nash earlier today, I said that we see this as being consistent with the National Water Initiative, which, as you will know, included a discussion about the need to license other interceptions—for example, plantations. The states have not moved as far on these issues as many people would have liked. We hope that the states will continue to move forward on complying with their obligations under the National Water Initiative. What we have said here is that we are making a policy commitment to such a regime. Obviously the detail of that is something we do need to work through with the stakeholders.