Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Davey, thank you for your question and for your patience while I find the relevant information in my folder.

As you would certainly understand, under the Water Act and the Basin Plan there are 30 water resource plans required to be prepared by basin states and accredited by the minister. As you know, these underpin water accounting for the plan and they are key to its implementation. These were all supposed to be in place by 1 July 2019. Notably, New South Wales did not meet that time frame—we discussed this at some length in estimates. In fact, New South Wales still has 11 water resource plans that are yet to commence.

This amendment which the government will propose—and I think it's what you're referring to with your question, the government amendment about an adjustment—enables the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to make a one-off adjustment for water resource plans that were accredited after 1 July 2019. The adjustment would reflect the sum of combined annual permitted take and annual actual take calculations for each relevant water accounting period from 1 July 2019 to the year that the register commences. So the water accounting will be deemed to have commenced on 1 July 2019. We have put this forward to deliver fairness for all of the basin states. It means that we start water accounting for everyone from 1 July 2019, irrespective of when the water resource plans were actually accredited.

I think you would understand that it wouldn't be fair for New South Wales and some other states to have an advantage, or other states to be disadvantaged, through the delay in water resource plans commencing. All basin states were consulted on this provision, and supported it. This amendment also addresses recommendation 8 of the Senate committee, and responds to submissions to the Senate committee, including by the Inspector-General of Water Compliance and the Victorian and South Australian governments.