Debate resumed from 2 December, on motion by Senator Wong, as amended:

That the report of the committee of the whole be adopted but, due to the Government’s failure to support in the House the amendments made by the Senate, the Senate calls on the Government to immediately:

(a)

prohibit construction of the North-South Pipeline and extraction of water from the Goulburn and Murray rivers for use in that pipeline;

(aa)

encourage and support other populations outside the Basin who currently rely on the extraction of water from the basin to broaden their water security by expanding their use of other water sources such as stormwater capture and recycling;

(b)

ensure that water saved through the Living Murray Initiative is immediately guaranteed and then released for environmental flows in the Goulburn and Murray rivers and to replenish the Lower Lakes;

(c)

deliver $50 million in emergency relief funding to the Lower Lakes and Coorong communities;

(d)

direct the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to undertake a comprehensive hydrological assessment of the proposed North-South pipeline project, and the proposed extraction of water for the pipeline; including an audit of the water savings to be achieved by the Victorian Food Bowl Modernisation Project and its impact on the water resources and environment of the Murray-Darling Basin; and

(e)

ensure that the CSIRO is adequately funded to undertake that assessment.

Question agreed to.

Report adopted.