Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

As I was saying, the modelling does not include the nearly $9 billion that the government will spend under the Water for the Future initiative. This includes over $3 billion to purchase water from those irrigators who wish to participate in the government’s buyback program and nearly $5 billion committed to water infrastructure and efficiency measures in the basin. It is likely that the effects on employment will be much smaller when government investment is included. These investments will enable a transition of employment from those parts of the irrigation sector where water is recovered for environmental purposes to take advantage of new opportunities that arise from the largest— (Time expired)