Page 1294 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 25 March 2009
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MR STANHOPE: What an appalling lack of understanding. What a consummate display of ignorance by the Liberal Party collectively.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Chief Minister, resume your seat.
Water—security
MS BURCH: I have a question to the Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water. Minister, can you advise the Legislative Assembly on the steps that this government is taking to improve Canberra’s water?
Ms Porter: Water or water security?
MR SPEAKER: Would you like to finish that question, Ms Burch?
MS BURCH: Sorry. Minister, can you advise the Assembly on the steps that this government is taking to improve Canberra’s water security?
MR CORBELL: I thank Ms Burch for the question. I was very pleased earlier today to announce the government’s decision—
Mrs Dunne: Re-announce for the 56th time.
MR CORBELL: to improve water security, the security of supply, for Canberrans and residents of Queanbeyan.
Mrs Dunne: How many times do you run the ads and then say, “Oh, this is news”?
MR CORBELL: I know those on the other side do not like it—because they are only interested in objecting, complaining and being in opposition for the sake of being in opposition. They have no alternatives when it comes to securing Canberra’s water supply into the future.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Corbell—relevance.
MR CORBELL: Their only policy on water supply, Mr Speaker, has been to build a dam that will never fill. That is their policy and they have presented no alternatives. So perhaps they should just listen to what the government is itself proposing.
The government has agreed to move forward with Actew’s recommendation to build the Murrumbidgee to Googong pipeline project and to purchase high security water licences to allow the transfer of water from the Tantangara reservoir downstream along the Murrumbidgee and then piped to the Googong dam. These two important water security projects build on the government’s stated policy, already announced and confirmed before the last election, to redevelop the Cotter dam to increase its capacity from approximately four gigalitres to over 70 gigalitres.
Combined with that measure, these two new projects of Murrumbidgee to Googong and the Tantangara transfer will add close to 100 gigalitres of supply to the ACT’s
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