Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, the first question is very simple. The water features around Parliament House are covered in shadecloth et cetera. Given the fact that, as I understand it, Canberra is no longer drought declared, can we look forward to these water features being reinstated?

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Canning for his question. I wish the Presiding Officers’ policy on this matter was well understood, but I am not quite sure that it is. Separate to the state of the dams around Canberra, there has been work to reinstate four or five of the water features using water that is being harvested out of the air-conditioning towers, with some basic engineering that has been used in other places. Investigation is ongoing about whether we will go forward on the basis of the state of the dams at the moment. It is a matter that I know many members would like to see us address and we are attempting to work out ways in which we can do it in a sustainable way.