Tuesday, 20 September 2022


Questions without notice and ministers statements

Ministers statements: water management


Ministers statements: water management

Ms SHING (Eastern Victoria—Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Equality) (12:15): Today I want to talk about water and in particular the work that is being done to manage wastewater and to treat it in a way that embraces opportunities for the circular economy and for appropriate integrated water management.

Last week I was in Cowes on Phillip Island to see the progress on the restorative wetland carbon storage pilot project. This is studying how floating wetlands can be used to manage treated effluent and emissions produced from wastewater treatment. Chris West is the most extraordinary manager of this site. He has been there for 38 years, and he has seen the evolution of water management from needing to wait for telephone and landline notifications of significant incidents right through to the use of sophisticated technology to manage water. We have invested around $250 000 towards this project, and it is being run by Westernport Water. It is one of 11 metropolitan and 17 regional projects under the $14.1 million integrated water management program.

To that end I want to take this opportunity to pay my respects to the work of my predecessor, Lisa Neville in the other place. She has been a steadfast champion of the best in advocacy and the best in outcomes for Victoria across integrated water management, across managing Murray-Darling Basin plan responsibilities and in standing up as a fierce advocate for Victorian interests.

I also want to note the release of the Central and Gippsland Region Sustainable Water Strategy, again a 50-year plan to make sure that we are taking our obligations and responsibilities seriously, particularly as we look at volatility and climatic conditions. We can see in the Northern Hemisphere what is happening. We can see that we need to have these conversations now, to plan well now and to take the right decisions so that future generations have a security and a certainty of water supply because we have leaned in to these conversations and we are prepared and ready.