Phillip Barresi (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Often in this place we debate matters of urgency—things that affect our constituency here and now. Then there are times when we have an eye to the long-term future of this country. That is why I rise this afternoon to speak about an issue which impacts directly on the lives of all Australians today and tomorrow—water. Water has become such an important issue that in the last two state elections—Western Australia and Queensland—water policies, or the lack of them, have taken prominence. The recent drought is a reminder that Australia is one of the driest continents on earth. It is a condition that affects not only our rural and regional communities but also the suburbs of our big cities, like those from Blackburn to Croydon in my electorate of Deakin.

The Minister for Trade made this clear earlier this afternoon when he told the House during question time that at the moment 98 per cent of New South Wales is either in drought or getting close to it. Irrigators along the Goulburn River in Victoria have been allocated only 17 per cent of their water rights, and more than 60 per cent of Queensland has been drought-declared. Grain crops this year are expected to be half those from last year.

Mr Deputy Speaker Causley, as a member representing a rural constituency you know all too well that many of our fellow Australians in country areas are suffering and will continue to do so. The federal government has provided over $1.1 billion directly for welfare and business support to farmers through the exceptional circumstances program. While this is to be welcomed and it is needed, we must also acknowledge that those of us living in big cities or major regional centres also need to play our part in water management.

Melbourne is expected to grow by approximately one million people by 2030. It is vital that we carefully manage our scarce water resources when faced with such immense growth in our population in such a concentrated area. The importance of water to the residents of Deakin is not measured solely in the compassion they feel for their country cousins in Bendigo or in Shepparton, and I note the presence in the chamber of the Minister for Workforce Participation, who represents the area of Shepparton. These country cousins have been living for too long with water shortages. We all need to comprehend the scale of the problem and be willing to make adjustments to our lifestyles to protect and preserve this national resource.

Many of us have responded well to the permanent water-saving regulations that have been in place in Victoria since March last year. For example, Melburnians no longer hose down driveways, paths or concrete paved areas, and all hand-held hoses are fitted with trigger nozzles for garden and lawn watering. It begs the question whether this is long overdue and should have happened many years earlier. It is a curious situation that water was wasted in such a frivolous manner. As much as city based residents may feel it is an inconvenience and imposition, it is a necessary reflection of where we are today. Our dams around Melbourne are, as of today, at 46.6 per cent capacity, with one dam, the Thompson reservoir, as low as 34 per cent. Over the last year Melburnians have saved 3.5 billion litres of water, the equivalent of 1,400 Olympic swimming pools. This is an outstanding achievement and a great response by a city community to a situation which is affecting the greater part of Australia. But more does need to be done.

On the first of this month, Melbourne was placed on stage 1 water restrictions. This means that, in addition to the permanent restrictions, manual watering systems can only be used at certain hours of the day, depending on your house number. Additionally, automatic watering systems have certain restrictions. Cleaning a car for us suburbanites has also meant a change of habit which is fast becoming the norm, with the trusty bucket and watering can becoming very popular tools. Stage 2 restrictions mean an even further tightening of our belts. Under the next stage of restrictions, households would be prohibited from watering their lawns. Water features and ponds could not be topped up, and using a hose to wash a car would be banned. If stage 2 restrictions are to be implemented, let us accept those restrictions with good grace in the knowledge that our rural brethren could only dream of those types of restrictions in their communities.

Effective management of our water resources is a top priority of the federal government, which has committed $200 million to the Community Water Grants program as part of its $2 billion Australian government water fund. This water grant program, as you would know, Mr Deputy Speaker Causley, recognises and supports the efforts of individuals and communities which are essential to help us all have a better understanding of and to better manage our scarce water resources. It is a grant allocation which has been widely accepted and enthusiastically subscribed to by so many, in electorates right across Australia. It is a good program because at the bare minimum it creates a high level of awareness and education among people in our community—none more so than those in school environments who have made their schools available to receive this grant.

I have visited schools in my electorate, including Mitcham Primary School and Rangeview Primary School, where the water conservation message is getting through. At Rangeview, for example, close to $50,000 in federal funding has been received to help them save 400,000 litres of water each year through the installation of rainwater tanks for toilet flushing and watering the garden. Another $50,000 has gone to Mitcham Primary School to go towards placing bladder tanks under the school hall that can store up to 200,000 litres to be used for school gardens and bathrooms. This is a program which is very popular, and I anticipate more and more schools and community centres in my area will put their hands up to receive money from this program.

It is becoming almost second nature to this generation of students to preserve the water they have. They are particularly conscious of the importance of saving water. I commend those students and those schools for doing so. School by school, community by community, these grants will encourage organisations to find practical ways to develop local solutions to ensure a sustainable future. They are an example of the shift taking place in our community, and they show that everyone is doing their part. I am sure that water will also feature in the upcoming Victorian state election in November, as it has elsewhere. Perhaps it will not be as prominent as it was in Queensland, where there was some talk that the Queensland election was called this year in anticipation of further restrictions being introduced in the next few months. In recent weeks the Victorian Liberal Party—the opposition—presented its water policy. That policy includes requiring the installation of water tanks when new homes are built and encouraging existing homeowners to install tanks. This approach to water saving is to be encouraged, and I look forward to the state Labor Premier, Steve Bracks, also announcing further water management and preservation initiatives.

However, these actions at a local level cannot be entirely effective without an organised and structured national vision and plan. We need a comprehensive strategy to improve our water management across the country. We need to continue to improve the productivity and efficiency of our water use while maintaining healthy rivers and groundwater systems. We need the National Water Initiative. The National Water Initiative addresses the vital importance of such questions to Australia. It encompasses a wide range of water management issues and encourages the adoption of best practice approaches to the management of water throughout this country.

For too long we have had a piecemeal approach to the issue of water management and conservation. Historically, we have had the states and territories making decisions about the use and management of water but only paying attention to the issues as they affect their state. This is quite simply unacceptable. For example, water policies developed by the Queensland government have a direct impact on the water policies of New South Wales which in turn impact on the farmers of the Murray-Darling Basin, impacting in turn on the towns and communities around them, eventually making their way down to the large cities, even as far as Melbourne and suburbs such as Blackburn.

The science of water treatment and recycling grey water and effluent has progressed substantially, yet the negative mindset is a difficult thing to break, which is a pity. We saw recently how the City of Toowoomba became clearly divided when a referendum was held on the possibility of recycling treated effluent back into the water supply. The fact that the recycled water was treated and would be diluted into the general water supply was not enough for some, and that was enough to defeat the proposition. A fear campaign destroyed the opportunity for that city to have a consumable water recycling solution.

In the short time left to me, I would like to say that the states do need to take a long-term, collaborative approach to this issue. They must place the infrastructure needed to ensure water security and availability at the centre of their infrastructure planning. (Time expired)