Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources) Share this | Hansard source

In speaking to the Water Legislation Amendment (Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment) Bill 2016, can I say that the government is absolutely committed to the delivery of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. Can I also acknowledge the bipartisan approach that was undertaken in establishing this plan in the first place. The 'one basin, one plan' mantra that followed the establishment of the negotiations when this plan was first put in place is a testament, I think, to how governments and oppositions in parliaments can work together to deliver the best possible outcome on something as critical as our water security.

Key to our ability to deliver this plan is recognising that it is not just environmental concerns and outcomes that need to be delivered; we also need to take into account the social and economic impacts of any changes through legislation or regulation. As you would be aware, Mr Acting Deputy President, I am an irrigator, and I can assure you that there is nobody on the land in Australia that understands better the need for a healthy river environment than an irrigator. It is the basis of our sustainability. Without a healthy river system, we do not have an economy, and without an economy we do not have our river communities.

The SDL adjustment mechanism process is a fundamental part in our ability to deliver this triple-bottom-line outcome. It provides a mechanism by which environmental outcomes can also be tested for their efficiency. We focused on irrigation efficiencies in the initial commencement of the rollout of the plan, whether they be on-farm or off-farm efficiencies for the delivery of water for irrigation, stock and domestic, and other consumptive use purposes. But it is equally important that we use water for environmental purposes equally efficiently.

The Murray-Darling Basin Plan in 2012 set out the process for coordinated and sustainable management of this very important river system. It also set out the long-term-average sustainable diversion limits, and it included an adjustment mechanism to adjust those limits by up to five per cent. The adjustment mechanism provides for the amendment of the SDLs based on either supply measure projects that deliver the Basin Plan environmental outcomes with less environmental water or efficiency measure projects that recover more environmental water in ways that deliver neutral or beneficial social and economic outcomes.

This bill amends the Basin Plan to provide for a second opportunity to notify adjustment measures by 30 June 2017. It provides another opportunity for the basin states to develop new projects to allow the SDL to be adjusted—and beyond those that have already been notified as of June 2016. It provides opportunities to maximise social, economic and environmental outcomes of the Basin Plan by augmenting the potential SDL adjustment.

It also builds on the Australian government's commitment to sustainable agricultural production. As you would well know, Mr Acting Deputy President, water is an absolutely critical input to agriculture, and it is one of the key pillars of this government's platform that agriculture is a very important part of our economy. We have done other things through the implementation of the plan. We have applied a sense of adaptive management to the implementation of this plan, an example of which was the capping of water purchases as part of the return of water for this purpose to 1,500 gigalitres last year.

We have also looked at some other really exciting measures for our ability to deliver efficient environmental water. There are such initiatives as the other no-flow measures that are being currently considered, the most famous of which is the carp control measure, which we are hoping will clear the river of the toxic carp that have been introduced and, in the process of doing so, increase our native fish populations. Up until now, this has not been able to be considered as an adjustment mechanism. However, we have given the states the opportunity to consider this and other types of no-flow measures, which could add to the environmental outcomes with either no damage at all to the social and economic communities that rely on the river or possibly even providing additional benefits.

We intend to continue to work in partnership with the basin states. As you would be aware, Mr Acting Deputy President Back, the Basin Plan requires the support of all of the basin states for us to be able to make any changes in the delivery of the legislation and the regulations that sit with it. I also assure Senator Hanson that we are very well aware of the rights of irrigators and of people and the communities who live on the river. One of the fundamental rights that we absolutely understand are riparian rights—that is, the rights of those people who live down river are equally entitled to expect that water will also flow past their properties and they will have access to it. This is not a case of those highest up the river get the best deal.

In concluding, I thank everybody—the opposition, the Nick Xenophon Team, the One Nation team, Senator Leyonhjelm and the other crossbenchers, and of course the Greens, who I am hoping will also be supporting this because of the importance of this delivering for the whole river community—for the support of this bill and I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.