Page 3551 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 25 August 2009
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While I congratulate the people of Canberra on their reduced water usage over the past years, it will come back to bite them. Reduced water consumption means reduced business flow-through for Actew Corporation. Reduced business flow-through with increasing costs means price rises for Canberrans. This is a tragic catch-22 for the people of Canberra and that catch-22 will endure for some generations to come. It will be the lasting legacy of this Stanhope-Gallagher government, a government intent on process and reports, a government incapable of action or delivery, a government of reckless carelessness, a government that is “gonna” do things but has yet to deliver on water security. Water security is a critical matter of importance for the people of Canberra and for Canberra’s future. It is a matter of grave concern for the people of Canberra that we have a government that simply is unable to deliver that security with decisiveness and certainty.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Planning and Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation) (11.41): I wish to use my time in this debate to add to the minister’s statement on water security. Before I begin I make the observation that it must be hard being as good as Mrs Dunne. It must be so hard being as good as you, Mrs Dunne. You are a champion, aren’t you? Yes. Your little diatribe was again perhaps putting you on the pedestal next to Mr Smyth, vying for the most childish member of the Assembly.
Water security has been brought to the fore in the last decade as we, along with many parts of Australia, have faced prolonged drought conditions. The more we understand about climate change the more likely it is that we are going to face extremes of weather, be it drought, storms or extreme heat. Perhaps the warmest August night on record might focus the mind a little.
This government has been working with the community to increase supply at the same time as decreasing demand. The strategy could be summed up as ‘water security through diversity’. By that we mean a combination of trying to increase supply and decrease demand on our potable water resources. This combination of temporary water restrictions and supporting the use of non-potable water sources will decrease demand for water.
On the supply side, in October 2007 the government agreed to the recommendations from Actew in regard to securing the ACT’s future water supply. These recommendations included enlarging the Cotter Dam, working on increasing the volume of water that could be transferred from the Murrumbidgee River to the Googong reservoir, and the Tantangara transfer option. Under this supply option, water would be transferred from the Tantangara reservoir in the Snowy Mountains scheme to the ACT.
This project would involve purchasing water entitlements from downstream irrigators, storing the water in the Tantangara reservoir, which is situated on the upper Murrumbidgee River, and, when required, releasing the water from Tantangara into the Murrumbidgee and then on to the ACT. The Tangangara transfer option will increase our water diversity and security because it is independent of rainfall in the
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