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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-09-11 Daily Xml
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MURRAY-DARLING BASIN AGREEMENT

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop) (15:07): My question is to the Minister for Water Security. Is it the case that, under the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Murray-Darling Basin signed by the South Australian Labor government, only a review of an existing Victorian water plan will commence in 2019, with the existing plan to remain in place until 2021?

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD (Chaffey—Minister for the River Murray, Minister for Water Security) (15:07): Under the Murray-Darling agreement that has been signed by premiers and the Prime Minister, state water sharing plans will remain in place for the duration of the term of those plans. It needs to be made very clear that what that means is not a volume of water for extraction from those states will be in place until 2019 but how that state shares the available water—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: The plan is up for review in 2019 and, during that review process, new caps will be included in that review process. It is very important that this house and members opposite understand that that water sharing plan does not entitle Victorian irrigators to a quantity of water. It actually provides for them the determination of how the available water will be shared in that jurisdiction.

Mr WILLIAMS: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. My point of order is relevance. I am asking whether the plan will continue to exist until 2021.

The SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order. I am more than happy to give the member for MacKillop the call after the minister has completed her answer if there is something the member for MacKillop needs to clarify.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: Thank you, sir. It is an extremely important issue and one that the opposition continues to misunderstand. The water sharing plans in Victoria, as they do in South Australia and New South Wales, distribute the available water; that is, the available water that is allocated to those states under their bulk entitlements. Under the new Murray-Darling Basin Authority, a new basin-wide plan will be established that will set new caps on extraction on each of the river valleys. That will determine how much water each state has available to share and each state will share that—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: No, I need to make this point very clear to you because you seem to misinterpret this constantly in the public arena. You do not want to get the right message out because you believe that there is a political imperative for you to get the wrong message out. This is a very good step forward in the management of the Murray-Darling Basin. We are seeing a new historic agreement come into effect. Referral of powers to the federal government will occur in the next few months, and what members opposite try to do is twist the facts to get their own political—

The Hon. R.J. McEwen: They are not interested in the facts.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: They are not interested in the facts. What they are interested in is trying to mislead the public into thinking that the water sharing plans actually fix an amount of water, and that is not correct. That is incorrect.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: 2021, yes, their plan for sharing—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: No, in fact I think that, sir, once again they have misrepresented what my response was there: 2021, 2022, 2030, 2040, Victoria will share its available water according to its water sharing plan and it will change over time. I have no doubt it will change over time. Our water allocation plan will also change over time. What will change under the new agreement is the amount of water that Victoria can share under that plan. It will change from 2011 when the new basin-wide plan is put in place. That is the important date: 2011. Regardless of what plans any state has, 2011 is when the implementation of the basin-wide plan, which will set new caps on extraction on all river valleys in the basin, will occur. That is the important date.

How Victoria shares it among its users is actually irrelevant. What is important is that the new cap is set and the new cap is implemented. That will occur in 2011 and it is mischievous of those opposite to try to imply that any water sharing plan in Victoria, ongoing or not ongoing, will have an impact on that.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Hammond.

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