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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 10 Hansard (26 November) . . Page.. 3105 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

Mr Deputy Speaker, perhaps $50 to $100. All the other fees go to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Commission, such as annual fees for taking water. I cannot know what the commission will recommend. That is up to the commission and we will have to look at that.

In the case of water allocations that can be bought, the market will set a price for those. The market, I think, will set fair and reasonable prices for them because water is a very important resource for agriculture and for industry. I cannot say what the market will pay. We will have to see how that works out. What it will allow, at last, is reasonable and consistent use of our water to ensure the future of the ACT.

Under the transitional clause, rural lessees could go through the surrender and re-grant process with their lease and then apply for a free transitional allocation. They would only then be up for an ongoing annual water resources charge and that would be set by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Commission. The detriment to the rural lessees is that they would then be up for the annual charge for the ground water. Under existing leases we cannot charge them for their ground water, yet ground water is a resource that belongs to all of us here in the ACT.

In terms of the ACT's total water resource, Mr Kaine spoke of run-off. That run-off is in excess. (Extension of time granted) Mr Deputy Speaker, the run-off that Mr Kaine thought belongs to rural lessees, that it was theirs to control - New South Wales, as I have said, has now reduced it to 10 per cent - is in excess of 400 gigalitres. That is 400 million kilolitres, if my maths is right. Around 200 gigalitres could possibly be harvestable in non-drought years. Currently, around 60 gigalitres of this is delivered through the ACTEW network, and something like another 15 gigalitres is used via access to the resource. So it is a total of something like 113 gigalitres that could possibly be delivered through the existing ACTEW network, through the Cotter catchment areas. That is a valuable resource and we need to treat it wisely. We need to ensure that it is looked after for the future.

Mr Deputy Speaker, this legislation has been a long time coming. Mr Humphries put up the original Bill with, I think, an expectation that it would be operational mid-1998. Now we look like getting it up and running for mid-1999. I congratulate Mr Humphries. The work I have been able to go on with is built on the basis of the work that he started.

Mr Deputy Speaker, we have had an inquiry into this Bill by the Urban Services Committee and we have had discussions, consultation and round tables to ensure that we get this as right as we can. We have taken on board the technical amendments that the Urban Services Committee suggested and I will move those amendments later.

In developing this Bill we have drawn on the experience and, need I say, the mistakes of the other States and Territories and the work that has been done on similar legislation there. In passing this Bill the ACT will take its place among jurisdictions with some of the simplest clear water resource management legislation that will protect this valuable

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