John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to incorporate some additional information in response to questions asked by Senator Fisher in question time earlier this week. I seek leave to incorporate the information in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The document read as follows—

Further information from Senator Faulkner, representing Senator Wong, in response to questions from Senator Fisher, on Tuesday 16 September.

Senator Fisher’s questions went to the relationship between the Commonwealth’s financial support for the NSW Government’s purchase of Toorale, and the decision by the Commonwealth to approve the Victorian Government’s infrastructure project, the Sugarloaf Pipeline subject to a number of environmental conditions.

To clarify, the decisions, while taken separately, both work to support the Government’s objectives in water policy.

The Australian Government’s $12.9 billion Water for the Future plan, is about preparing Australia for a future with less rainfall as a result of climate change. It includes as key objectives improving the health of our rivers and using water more wisely.

We must have a concerted effort across the Basin, in purchasing water from willing sellers and improving infrastructure efficiency.

The purchase of Toorale Station by NSW is in accordance with the principles of buying from willing sellers at market prices. The purchase will be assisted through a substantial grant from the Commonwealth to NSW.

The purchase of Toorale Station will return an average of 20 billion litres of water to the Darling River each year, peaking at up to 80 billion litres in flood years.

Significant environmental assets that will benefit from this purchase include some wetlands of national importance at Menindee Lakes, as well as the Darling River itself. The recent CSIRO Sustainable Yields audit for the Barwon-Darling system also found that the middle zone of the Darling River (Between Bourke and Menindee Lakes) is in poor condition.

Meanwhile, the Sugarloaf Pipeline project is about taking action in the face of drought and climate change.

This pipeline will be used to convey water saved as a result of new irrigation infrastructure; savings that will be distributed between the people of Melbourne, irrigators and the environment.

The conditions of approval ensure there will be no reductions in flows to the environment, and no adverse impacts on matters of National Environmental Significance, including the Lower Lakes.