Page 3444 - Week 11 - Thursday, 15 November 2007
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Part of the communique from the water summit included agreement on continued good faith negotiations between the commonwealth and the ACT to regularise the arrangements for the Googong Dam, associated infrastructure and related land management. With respect to Stateline on 9 February this year, was it also a mistake for the territories minister, Jim Lloyd, to acknowledge in his memorandum of understanding—
Mrs Dunne: On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker, the subject of this bill is the agreement between the commonwealth, states and territories in relation to the Murray-Darling Basin Commission and the initiative. I have not heard Dr Foskey mention the Murray-Darling Basin initiative for some minutes. Because we are actually talking about the Murray-Darling Basin, it does not give members free range to show how much they know and talk as long as they like on any matter that relates to H2O.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Dr Foskey, I would ask you to note the need to maintain relevance. I am sure you can make that decision.
DR FOSKEY: I think that indicates there is a concern that perhaps I know a bit about this issue. I did not think there was a problem with talking about it here. It is a very large bill, as you will have noticed, and I am not privy to the government’s representations and deliberations. I am very lucky to have 20 minutes in which to speak, and I would like to use that time.
There are two new reports that paint a dire picture of the Murray River. They say that 70 per cent of red gum forest on Australia’s greatest waterway is in poor health and declining. According to the most comprehensive analysis of Victorian Murray River red gums, 54 per cent of the forest is in a deteriorating state. The reason this occurs is because the Murray no longer follows its natural pattern of flooding every year in spring because the way we use the Murray River now means that we take out water at the time when the river is at its lowest, and it no longer has that overflow, without which those trees cannot function.
I would hope that the ACT, in its membership of the Murray-Darling council, advocates, and thinks bigger than itself and its own needs, because that has been the problem with all the governance systems of the Murray-Darling Basin. Every state has gone in there spruiking for itself. The ACT has not had a voice at all; it has only been an observer for all these years until now. I have no idea how much lobbying or deals were done or how the arrangement was made for the ACT to be a voting member, but I would really like to hear about that from the minister or from Mr Stefaniak. I guess that is relevant. Recently, we saw the high jinks between the Premier of Victoria and the commonwealth in relation to negotiations around the commonwealth plan. It is a highly politicised system of management.
Given that we are now going to have more input into the Murray-Darling Basin management, we would also like to offer the following recommendations to be taken to the ministerial council to ensure sustainability and an improved working model. Specifically, we would like the ACT government to advocate to establish proper processes for engagement and consultation with traditional owner groups in planning for the Murray-Darling Basin. We want to prevent further degradation. We want to
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .