Page 4031 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 16 Sept 2009

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Omit paragraphs (3)(b), (4) and (5), substitute:

“(3) (b) the announcement by Actew Corporation on 3 September 2009 that the cost of construction for the enlarged Cotter Dam had increased to $363 million; and

(4) notes that the management of the project is being undertaken by the Board of Actew Corporation, consistent with the provisions of the Territory-owned Corporations Act 1990; and

(5) requests that the Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water request that Actew provide to the Minister, to present to the Legislative Assembly by close of business on Thursday, 17 September 2009, in relation to both of the Cotter Dam enlargement and the Murrumbidgee to Googong transfer project:

(a) a detailed accounting of the factors leading to the increase in costs of the projects; and

(b) a chronology of when Actew advised the Government of the variation in costs and details thereof in relation to the projects.”.

The government welcomes this debate today on what is an important project for the Canberra community and an important project in assisting in securing water security for the ACT into the future.

Canberrans want water security. They recognise that it is an important issue and one that they want to see the government acting on. That is why this government has acted to deliver on two important projects to improve water security for the ACT. The first is the Cotter Dam expansion project and the second is the Murrumbidgee to Googong transfer project with the purchase of water from the Tantangara Dam. I will speak on both of these projects in more detail in a moment, but I would like to start by illustrating the circumstances that we face and why these issues are significant.

Every year since 2002, with the exception of 2005, the ACT has received less than its long-term average rainfall. Minimum temperatures have also risen over this period. Stream inflows have dropped considerably, such that inflows over the past seven years are 63 per cent below long-term averages. Inflows into our storages for 2006 were 26 gigalitres; in 2007, 66 gigalitres, and in 2008, 56 gigalitres. These inflows are not covering our normal gross extractions of 65 gigalitres per year for urban water use. For 2009, the ACT’s inflows are the lowest on record.

These are the very real facts that we are confronting when it comes to water security. And that is why in 2004 the ACT initiated the think water, act water strategic water plan. This is easily forgotten, particularly by our critics, but, at the time, the plan placed the ACT ahead of the rest of Australia in addressing water supply, water usage and integrated water planning on a large urban scale.

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