Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I hear an interjection from the Labor Party saying that that is not true, but the evidence given to us clearly indicated that they had not complied with the conditions on the Paradise Dam. In fact the Queensland government could not really point to any substantial evidence—and they were given the opportunity—that they had indeed followed the conditions imposed by the Commonwealth government.

Further comments which coalition senators have added to the report—and of course we very strongly support the committee’s recommendations—indicated to the Queensland government that they should not proceed until further work was done on the already initiated water-saving measures, which we were praiseworthy of. There should be further work on increasing the capacity of existing dams. There really needs to be a more serious assessment of additional desalination projects, and the Queensland government does have to take a lead in relation to water recycling and the increasing use of grey water for non-potable purposes. I would like to speak further on this report but time is brief and I know a number of my colleagues want to make a contribution also to this debate. So I will stop there and defer to my coalition colleagues so they can make a comment on this report as well.