Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Urban Water) Share this | Hansard source

This is a government of water wallys. They have been silent as the states have wasted 1,800 billion litres of water a year off our coasts by a failure to support recycling and by an agreement with the approach of pumping pollution off our coasts, and all the time they have adopted a simple approach. Their simple approach has been to take from the country to give to the city, whereas our approach has been to look at recycling, stormwater and water efficiencies so the city finally gives back to the country. That is what water reform is about, that is what water efficiency is about and that is why we as the previous government put in place a once-in-a-century water revolution. What we have seen by comparison is a white flag on water. Before I begin in detail, let me turn to what Tim Flannery said about that plan. Over a year ago, on 2 February 2007, the then Australian of the Year said:

I think it’s an excellent plan; it really is. It’s the best we could hope for and I applaud the Prime Minister—

John Howard, the then Prime Minister—

and Malcolm Turnbull on that plan …

They were Tim Flannery’s words. That was what he said about the plan—and I am delighted that the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts has seen fit to join us on this matter of public importance.

What have we seen by comparison? We have seen no money for infrastructure, we have seen no real power to the national authority and we have seen no money for rural communities as the structural adjustment funding has been stripped away. One and a half billion dollars which was intended to help rural communities to adjust has gone, and there is a disastrous pipeline plan to take water from the communities of the Goulburn, from the communities of McEwen and, ultimately, upstream from the Murray. At the end of the day to take that water is to defeat the very purpose of the national plan on water—for which, as Tim Flannery said, credit is due to the then Prime Minister and to the now Leader of the Opposition. They have defeated that plan because they have dropped the ball, they have raised the white flag, by taking away the money for infrastructure and by taking away the money for rural communities, and instead of having a plan which focused on three parts: (1) most importantly, water efficiency for the farmers to help them and to share the benefits with the rivers; (2) to allow for water trading—we believe in water trading and its role but only where there are wise choices and not where the water efficiencies have been denied from the outset; and (3) where you have traded, to have support for the communities. Parts one and three have gone. The water efficiencies have gone. The money for the community has gone. What they have is a plan to buy water from farmers which is not real and which has not been effective. They paid $50 million for 35 gigalitres, the Prime Minister told us. The reality is they paid $50 million for 10 swimming pools. There are people around this country who would love to sell this mob a bridge or two because, when it comes to sensible purchasing, they are kidding.

What we want to present to the House today is a very simple proposition: that this is a government of mismanagement, or water wallies, when it comes to water. The example of the disastrous north-south pipeline highlights, in a way which is absolutely clear to Australians, that instead of saving water in the city to share with the country they have a simple plan: take the water from the farmers and from the country, take it to the cities, make no changes in water efficiency in the country and make no changes to this disastrous waste of water, which is dropping 1,800 gigalitres off our coasts, polluting our coasts—

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