Bill Heffernan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As the chair of the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee, I present an addendum to the report of the committee on the management of the Murray-Darling Basin.

Ordered that the report be printed.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

I will only take a minute because I intend to speak later in the day on the report. Due to an administrative oversight and probably an excessive workload by a very good and professional committee, this was omitted from the printed report. It is an addendum regarding the 2,750 gigs of water that was modelled for the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. According to ABARE's chief modeller, the differentiation of the categories of water was not fully explained to the committee. This sets that out in plain language. What it says, and what I was saying at the time, is that, if you bought 2,750 gigs of high-security water or medium-security water or terminal water or supplementary water, there would be a hell of a difference in the impact of what you would get with that water. This addendum explains that.

Debate adjourned.