David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Senator Canavan, representing the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources. Following yesterday's announcement of the northern basin water taskforce, can the minister advise the Senate of the findings made by the northern basin review?

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Fawcett for his question. As he mentioned, the government is establishing a northern basin taskforce and that taskforce will be charged to ensure that we better recover water from the northern basin and that we do so in way that is better managed than that of, particularly, the former government.

It is in the context of the northern basin review, which was reported recently, and also the Murray-Darling Basin Authority's recommendation, that the water recovery target in the northern basin be reduced as a result of that review. That review found that the water recovered in the basin so far had had a tremendous impact on jobs, employment and the communities of the north. That review found a particularly big impact on a town called Collarenebri in my colleague Senator Nash's state. I remember driving through Collarenebri four or five years ago. I stopped and got something at the local store and got talking to them. They said they were absolutely devastated and that their whole community had been devastated. The gin had just closed. It had just closed after Senator Wong—while she was minister for water—had bought back over $300 million of water from one company, and that had led to devastating impacts on the town. That is just an anecdote. But in this basin review from the Murray-Darling Basin Authority they said for Collarenebri the recovery of water occurred some time ago and—and this was just reported last month—that:

The reduction in total employment from the recovery of water is estimated to be around … 21% in Collarenebri.

A fifth! Now the people of Collarenebri do not get much of a voice here in this chamber very often. But just imagine for each one of us if we went back to our communities and a fifth of the jobs were not there next week. Just imagine the devastating impact that would have in your towns and your communities. That is directly what happened because of the recovery of water, according to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority. That is the impact and the devastation that were caused by the decisions of the former government. That is what is happening in those towns and communities. They deserve those impacts to be reported to this place.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Fawcett, a supplementary question.

David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Could the minister outline what changes the review proposes to improve outcomes in the basin?

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As discussed, the review and the Murray-Darling Basin Authority have come to the conclusion that, as a result of those devastating impacts, there does need to be a reconsideration of the amount of water recovered in the northern basin. They have recommended that the water recovery target be reduced from 390 gigalitres to 320 gigalitres. According to the chief executive of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, Mr Phillip Glyde, this would ensure a sensible balance between social, economic and environmental interests. He says that reducing the water recovery target will save about 200 jobs in irrigation dependent communities while continuing to deliver about the same level of environmental outcomes. That is exactly what we need: a more sensible approach to this big issue for our country and an approach which protects those regional communities, the jobs they rely on and the good hardworking Australians that deserve to have their interests balanced through this review.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Fawcett, a final supplementary question.

David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister explain how the Northern Basin Review fits into the government's broader commitment to deliver the Basin Plan?

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I stated earlier in this chamber, the government is fully committed to ensuring the Basin Plan is implemented, and this Northern Basin Review is a part of that plan—it is a part of the plan that now has been delivered. Those that support the implementation of the plan should get behind this now, because the experts, the independent Murray-Darling Basin Authority, are recommending this result, and those are the people that we should take advice from on this issue.

That review has also found that we should ensure that we have a toolkit of measures that recover water and improve environmental outcomes in the Murray-Darling Basin. This system, as I was told up in St George recently, is not like two-minute noodles—you do not just add water to it and expect better outcomes. You need to make sure you deliver better results in terms of fish management and better results in terms of cold water pollution. We need a suite of measures to make sure that we actually improve the environment in the basin, not just hit arbitrary targets. That is our goal and that is why we are implementing the Basin Plan in full.