Kerry Bartlett (Macquarie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on a matter of great concern to my electorate—the health of the Hawkesbury River and its catchment. This river catchment is one of immense importance environmentally, economically and socially. The catchment provides drinking water for four million people in Sydney and its environs. It is responsible for over $1 billion worth of agricultural production and 70 per cent of the production of goods and services in New South Wales. Yet the Hawkesbury River system is currently under severe stress: low environmental flows, excessive and increasing concentrations of nutrients and recent devastating outbreaks of weed. At the moment, there is a widespread outbreak of egerra and, in 2004, there was a devastating outbreak of Salvinia molesta.

The Hawkesbury River has been affected by the failure of the Sydney Catchment Authority, Sydney Water and the New South Wales government to undertake the long-term planning necessary to ensure Sydney’s water supplies. There has been no planning for a second dam to ensure Sydney’s water supplies. There has been no planning for any serious attempt at, or consideration of, recycling. Instead, it has been a matter of them sitting on their hands and hoping that something will come up.

The result of this neglect is obvious. We saw in May last year a desperate measure by the New South Wales government to halve the environmental flows out of Warragamba Dam to ensure the conservation of water for Warragamba. That was understandable, given the effects of the drought; but only was it an issue because the state government had failed for 10 years to look at any serious alternative long-term planning for and sustainable approach to Sydney’s water needs.

The result of that reduction in environmental flows is obvious for anyone living downstream from Warragamba—higher concentrations of nutrients and at times some 50 per cent to 80 per cent of the flow in the Hawkesbury River consisting of outflows from the sewage treatment plants in the catchment upstream from the Hawkesbury. It is an unsustainable and unsatisfactory situation. As well as that, massive weed outbreaks have occurred as a result of those high concentrations of nutrients in the river.

What have we seen from the state government? Instead of seriously looking at the issue, we have just seen pie-in-the-sky proposals to give the appearance that they are doing something about it. The desalination proposal was going to be the great saviour of Sydney’s water supplies. Even Bob Carr ridiculed it at one stage by saying that desalination water was bottled electricity, requiring twice the energy usage of recycling. Instead of any serious attempt to do something about the situation, the state government have made grand announcements of what they will try and do down the track to give the perception of action to clothe their culpable inaction.

Finally, after public outcries and protests and after ridicule by the scientific community, they decided to scrap that proposal because it was clearly not going to work. What did we then find? Just a few weeks ago, the Iemma government discovered some great water-bearing aquifers under Western Sydney that were now going to be the saviour of Sydney’s water supply. Again, it is not sustainable. Again, it is an attempt to give the appearance of action towards providing some sort of sustainable approach to Sydney’s water needs.

In the meantime, in the midst of all these announcements, what have we got? We have reduced environmental flows, widespread weed outbreaks and reduced safety for recreational use in the Hawkesbury. About a year ago, we had the appalling decision by the state government to scrap the regular monitoring of water quality in the Hawkesbury to ensure that it was safe for recreational use. In other words, the government did not want the truth about the poor quality of the water to be revealed. The solution to Sydney’s water needs is recycling—450 billion litres a year. We need to address this seriously.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! It being 5 pm, the debate is interrupted.