Page 2028 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 4 June 2019
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foundation for much of the good work on water that is now being done. But we cannot rest on our laurels, on the achievements we have already made. Clearly, we need to continue our efforts, for all of the reasons I have outlined.
We support this bill today and we look forward to seeing more work done to improve water both in and around the ACT.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Minister for Planning and Land Management, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister assisting the Chief Minister on Advanced Technology and Space Industries) (11.03), in reply: The two amendments to the Water Resources Act are set out in the Water Resources Amendment Bill 2019 and are vital for the ACT and its water management for the future, in particular in meeting its commitment under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. In essence, we have heard that the two amendments provide two key but relatively simple changes to the Water Resources Act. These are the inclusion of a provision for the ACT water resource plan and defining what comprises the plan. The plan will include determinations relating to environmental flows, water management areas, defining total amounts of take for service and groundwater from these areas as well as guidelines for working out reasonable amounts of water for particular uses.
The second amendment states that the ACT’s water available from its water management areas is limited by the long-term average sustainable diversion limit as set for surface water and also for groundwater. These limits are set in the basin plan, which is an instrument of the commonwealth’s Water Act 2007. The amendment does not set an actual limit because the limit may change when and where the basin plan changes. The ACT may seek an amendment to the sustainable diversion limit that has been set. The other basin states are also constrained by sustainable diversion limits for their water resources plan areas or river systems—for example, New South Wales with their portion of the Murrumbidgee River system.
The amendments, as mentioned above, relate to the ACT’s involvement in the Murray-Darling Basin and the basin plan. The ACT is, of course, a part of the basin and has a responsibility to manage the territory’s water resources. The ACT, as well as the other basin states, is subject to the commonwealth’s Water Act; hence the application for a sustainable diversion limit for the basin’s various water resource plan areas.
The bill is not controversial but at the same time it is vital to demonstrate in legislation how the ACT meets its water management responsibilities. The amendments will also better inform stakeholders, the scientific community and the community in general on how water is managed in the ACT.
The amendments are also in keeping with the national water initiative, the national framework signed by all state and territory jurisdictions for managing water. The bill also enables the water resource plan to apply, adopt or incorporate an instrument as in force from time to time.
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