Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 07 Hansard (Tuesday, 29 June 2004) . . Page.. 2899 ..

Sustainable water resource management is at the forefront of our priorities and has been taken very seriously by my government.

My government has prepared a comprehensive, far-reaching and forward-looking water resources strategy, “Think water, act water”, which explicitly commits to ensuring future water supply security and a high quality natural and urban environment for the future prosperity of the ACT. This is the first government to explicitly incorporate the concept of sustainability into its water resource management goals and to set challenging yet realistic targets. This is the first government to recognise the need to manage future uncertainties and to identify possible future water sources for more detailed investigation.

We recognise the need for a national approach to managing water, as one of the country’s most vital natural resources, and we have been proactively engaging with the Commonwealth and with other states and territories, particularly those of the Murray-Darling Basin. “Think water, act water” recognises our place in the Murray-Darling Basin and the need for the ACT to minimise downstream impacts, including the amount of water we take from the basin and the water quality leaving the ACT.

It is worth reminding the Assembly that at the COAG meeting held in August 2003 the ACT made a firm acknowledgment of our responsibilities, given the ACT’s role as an integral part of the Murray-Darling Basin. I announced on 29 August 2003 that the ACT “would allocate $5 million of new funding to improve water resources management in the territory”. I went on to say:

As the largest urban centre in the Murray Darling Basin, the ACT accepts its responsibility to contribute to improving the health of the river system, despite the sound practices we already have in place.

These funds will support the implementation of “Think water, act water” and in particular they will support improved catchment management practices and arrangements, improving the efficiency of water use, increasing the use of treated effluent, implementing water sensitive urban design, and continuing to improve the provision of environmental flows through improvements in their delivery and the science upon which they are based.

Through these measures the ACT will continue to reduce the impact we have on the basin.

The ACT’s contribution to this vital initiative is part of the agreement reached today at COAG of a 60:40 State and Commonwealth commitment to the $500 million program—

which was announced by COAG at that meeting. Accordingly, I am very pleased to formally advise the Assembly that I committed the ACT to the National Water Initiative at last Friday’s Council of Australian Governments meeting, which now ensures that these commitments will be implemented.

The new National Water Initiative agreement, which I was part of negotiating and which I was happy to sign on behalf of the ACT last Friday, builds on the earlier 1994 COAG water reforms. The initiative responds to the continuing national imperative to increase

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .