Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. One might ask why a Victorian senator might be speaking on the Water Amendment Bill 2018. Victoria, along with New South Wales, has the longest frontage to the Murray River, which is vital for the Victorian irrigation industry. It is the lifeblood of many of the Victorian communities, particularly in the north of the state. We in Victoria obviously have a strong interest in the responsible management of the Murray-Darling Basin. We need to ensure that the needs of irrigators are balanced against the responsibility for the future of the environment and we must preserve it for future generations. Indeed, it was only yesterday that some of the north-western Victorian councils visited me. They are visiting the nation's capital and visiting various ministers and other parliamentarians.

The Victorian government has taken extraordinary steps in recent times regarding water. It has built pipelines, it has improved pipelines to diminish loss of water by evaporation, and it has built, as a PPP project, the desalination plant in the south of Victoria. What the north-west councils of Victoria were speaking to me about was the importance of water supply for that region, particularly for agriculture and livestock management but also to boost local and regional economies. There is quite a large fruit nectar industry, for example, in that part of the state. They also spoke about what has flowed—no pun intended—from a lack of certainty about water supply. They've had young people move away from that area of the state because it's not necessarily tenable any longer to farm in that part of the state, which is drought affected.

The Victorian government recently announced $32 million for the East Grampians rural pipeline, which is coming from Lake Fyans, but that is also reliant on federal government expenditure. Hopefully, this government will be able to support this project. What they're seeking with the East Grampians rural pipeline is to deliver a secure non-potable supply to users, which addresses the extreme vulnerability to climate variability. Further, they needed to give confidence to businesses wishing to expand their operations and encourage emerging investment opportunities that in turn will benefit the regional economy directly and indirectly.

I want to turn to the substance of the bill. There have been 100 years of conflict about the Murray-Darling Basin. In fact, it was part of the 1890s Constitutional—