Jackie Kelly (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the 40th Parliament, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Environment and Heritage commenced an inquiry into sustainable cities. One of the key reasons for my joining that committee at the start of this parliament was that the report, Sustainable Cities, is such a crucial issue for outer metropolitan areas. The committee took over 200 submissions, all of which were posted to the website. Mr Carr, the former state Premier of New South Wales, would have been well aware of the evidence being taken by the committee when in Dubai he announced a desalination plant for Sydney. It was totally contrary to any practice of sustainability on any of the evidence we took.

On that issue, we now see that over $120 million has been committed, which would be enough to sustain more police for New South Wales and more mental health beds and pretty much put a flashing traffic light at every school crossing in New South Wales. We hear today that the New South Wales Premier has now given the desalination plant the flick and is going for water aquifers under Penrith in my electorate. I find this gobsmacking. Our area has suffered again and again from the state Labor government’s mismanagement of this issue. For a start, they did not raise the wall on Warragamba Dam. Instead, they built an incredibly expensive overflow, which means that, when there is a rainfall that will fill dams, we will get flooded at the expense of the rest of Sydney’s drinking water. Virtually three-quarters of my entire electorate will be flooded because of that decision.

After that decision was taken, we then had a decision to have a desalination plant and now we have a decision to have aquifers under the Hawkesbury-Nepean River, which is already under extreme stress from mining. We have had instances of mining under the river, which has allowed methane gas into the river, causing enormous fish kills throughout the area. The subsidence in that area is already having a devastating effect on the Hawkesbury-Nepean, and we now have this outrageous suggestion that somehow aquifers are some kind of long-term solution for Sydney’s water. My electorate of Lindsay has suffered again and again from this government’s mismanagement of the water issue. I urge the Premier to read the committee’s report, adopt the extensive evidence we have collected and take up our recommendations on water recycling. I am not one for water recycling. I really object to drinking recycled water but, of all the policies open to us, I have been convinced that that is where our future lies. It is unpalatable but, having done all the research and evidence, we need to get out there and educate Sydneysiders that this is a realistic option, and it is where we must head in terms of Sydney’s future drinking water, rather than spending another $120 million on some harebrained scheme that would put aquifers under the city of Penrith. (Time expired)