Bill Heffernan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Minister. Just to make sure you understand that it is relevant, in part (v) it says, 'entering agreements to acquire an interest in, or in relation to, land (including easements)' et cetera. These issues are very relevant to the way this money is spent. I am sure—I will bet you £1,000 to one peanut—that is the answer to the question I have asked, and that is: have we studied the likely implications against three things? They are: the minimum decline by 2050 of 3,500 gigs in run-off in the lower Murray-Darling Basin, the fact that the interconnectivity studies between the rivers and the aquifers are not complete, and that we have increased the allocation from the aquifers by 2,700 gigs and are increasing money to make more efficient some of the works to save waters for the environment but some of the water that we save would have ended up in the aquifer and been allocated to those extra licences. So there is a serious flaw in the thinking of this bill.