Patrick Secker (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I would like to alert the House to the fact that this week is National Water Week. Considering I have the whole South Australian stretch of the Murray River and also the Lower Lakes in my electorate, it is fitting that I speak on it today. Recent rainfalls in the state have improved some flows, which has renewed hopes of allocations increasing, but that does not distract from the fact that the Murray River and the Lower Lakes are in dire need of infrastructure spending. In fact, the influx of flows has in some cases highlighted the need for infrastructure spending, with overflows being wasted. The last thing the community want to see is water being wasted when they have been struggling throughout this long drought.

In my electorate the focus is on revitalising the Murray River and the Lower Lakes and making sure that irrigators have access to water through good infrastructure and water management. South Australia can boldly boast that we are the best managers of any state when it comes to using water. The problem is that no infrastructure has been built in my electorate since Labor has been in government, even though the Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Wong, has made several announcements of significant funding and several visits to the area. In fact, my electorate is worse off under the Labor government.

Labor have abolished the Community Water Grants—a funding program that delivered up to $50,000 for water-saving projects and inspired community groups across Barker to become leaders in the conservation of our precious water supply. The Community Water Grants program had helped over 8,000 community groups across Australia save the equivalent of 40,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water each year, but instead all we have now are empty promises and no action from the Labor government. Despite visiting the electorate a few months ago, the minister could not provide the community with any answers on when taxpayer funded projects would commence or why there was still no action from the Labor government on infrastructure. The astounding thing is that the minister was left $5.8 billion in funding for water-saving infrastructure projects by the Howard government, and she has still failed to see any projects into fruition. Just last week the Prime Minister also visited the electorate as part of his health reforms tour but, when probed by members of the community on water issues, he remained tight-lipped and refused to answer any questions on this vital issue. Here we have a clear show of community outrage on an important issue, and neither Mr Rudd as Prime Minister nor Minister Wong can provide answers on why projects have not been started.

National Water Week is all about highlighting water awareness and water efficiency to the community, but perhaps we should be concentrating on creating awareness within the Labor government instead. Members should be aware that about 12 months ago Lake Albert was blocked off from Lake Alexandrina, with a proviso that water would be pumped from Lake Alexandrina to Lake Albert. Unfortunately, about six months ago, those pumps were turned off indefinitely, with no provision to start them up again. Now Lake Albert has been condemned to death by the state and federal Labor governments. Fish will die. Turtles will die. And Labor has no solution. When will this government do something about Lake Albert and Lake Alexandrina?