John Forrest (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services. Would the Deputy Prime Minister update the House on how regional communities are responding to the challenges of the drought and longer term water planning, particularly in my electorate of Mallee?

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mallee for his question. Obviously the drought that is affecting so many parts of regional Australia is having a severe effect on many of those farming communities and the broader community. Of course, fundamental to that is the way that we manage our water resources in Australia. As the member for Mallee knows, the Constitution places responsibility for water planning and provision with the state governments. But, as has been indicated on many occasions in here as well as today, the federal government is shouldering a fair share of the responsibility in this regard. Thanks to a lot of the hard work that was done by the member for Mallee and in particular the member for Gwydir, the Australian government has taken a leadership role in putting together the National Water Initiative.

We have had $2 billion worth of programs under the National Water Initiative, and the area the member for Mallee represents is, of course, one of the early recipients of one of those programs: the $167 million that we allocated towards the Wimmera-Mallee pipeline. That is a pipeline not for irrigation water but for stock and domestic water in the Wimmera-Mallee area in Victoria, where they are in the grip of a severe drought. When that work is completed—and it has started—it will save 83,000 megalitres of water every year. Every year, 83,000 megalitres of water will be saved because of the investment that has been made in the Wimmera-Mallee pipeline. It provided those communities with certainty to plan for the future. This is the critical issue that farmers and particularly irrigators require, particularly from the state governments, who manage the water systems. They need certainty and accurate information so that they can plan.

In New South Wales the state government has taken a couple of decisions that have made it very difficult under extreme circumstances for irrigators in New South Wales to plan. It cut New South Wales irrigators’ carry-over water entitlements. Carry-over water entitlements are one of the highest security water products available in New South Wales. Initially the government said to irrigators: ‘We’re going to cut them by 20 per cent. We are going to cut your carry-over entitlement by 20 per cent.’ So managing their businesses, irrigators went out and planted their crops on the basis of the information made available. Then after they had invested in planting the crops, the New South Wales government said, ‘No, we are going to cut them by a further 32 per cent.’ So the sunk cost of planting the crop has been lost, and it has exacerbated the impact of drought with those irrigators in New South Wales. They are not just asking for more water; they are asking for better information and better planning of the water system.

We continue to hear in the debate about the impact of drought about what irrigators are doing and that they are irresponsible people. There is an interesting statistic out, and that is that rice growers have improved their water efficiency by 80 per cent. They have improved their use of water by 80 per cent with new technology. The same question could be asked of many of the state government utilities who use water: whether they can improve their water efficiency by 80 per cent.

It is important, in looking at this issue and this problem of better management of our water resources, that everybody shoulders their fair share of the responsibilities—our level of government, state governments and certainly industry. It is about getting timely and accurate information so proper business decisions can be made. Better management of our water resources is certainly in the interests of regional Australia, and better water management across the nation is certainly going to be vital for the future of our nation.