Water policy
Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:38): (340) My question is for the Minister for Water. On Monday the Productivity Commission released a report on the Murray–Darling Basin plan. It identified that, of nine Victorian Murray flood plain restoration sites that form part of the state’s sustainable diversion limit adjustment mechanism, none are operational, five are unlikely to be operable by June 2024 and the other four will not be operable by then. The report cited cost blowouts and poor value for money as key reasons for supply projects like these not being delivered on time. Victoria is relying heavily on flood plain restoration projects to meet its environmental water commitments. Minister, how much funding is required to deliver the nine Victorian Murray flood plain restoration sites?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:39): Thank you for that question. It is really important that I am in a position to talk today about the Murray–Darling Basin plan and the fact that we have had a report. There have been a couple of other public comments and positions taken in recent days, including by the Australia Institute and others, around the implementation of the plan. Just to be really clear, we do not do policy by polling. What we do is get out into the community and talk about delivering on the outcomes that Victorian communities want. That includes –
Members interjecting.
The PRESIDENT: Order! The person asking the question and the person answering the question probably want to be heard.
Harriet SHING: That includes the record return of environmental water that Victoria has achieved – more than any other jurisdiction under the agreed consensus approach that was established and bedded down in legislation in 2012 and then again by reference to the agreed socio-economic criteria in 2018. We have also seen that Victoria, as a consequence of the impact of buybacks, some 550 gigalitres, has borne significant impact and that the impact of these buybacks has resulted in harm to communities. The Frontier Economics report, which I would hope that you have read, indicates very clearly that there are around 40 per cent of job losses sustained as a consequence of buybacks, and in addition to that, when we look at the return of water to the environment across 14,000 hectares of flood plains –
Sarah Mansfield: On a point of order, President, the minister has not answered my substantive question, which was about how much funding was required to deliver these particular projects.
The PRESIDENT: I call the minister back to the question.
Harriet SHING: I actually do want to come back to this, because you are referring to these projects as either not viable or not being implemented or in fact not actually having the impact that is intended for them. Let us be really, really clear. When you send a vast superhighway of water down a river, you are not returning water to all of the environments across the Murray–Darling Basin. You are returning water to parts of the basin, and you are failing to take account of the way in which water moves across a flood plain. Fourteen thousand hectares is what these projects are about delivering.
Sarah Mansfield: On a point of order, President, it is lovely to hear an explanation of what these projects are, but I actually just asked about how much funding is required to deliver them. I made no comments on their value or otherwise.
The PRESIDENT: I call the minister back to the question.
Harriet SHING: You made no comments on their value? In fact you have. You have been in this chamber actually deriding these projects on a number of occasions, and I have an issue with that, because this is about making sure we return environmental benefit under what was agreed in the consensus approach from 2018. Come up and see the VMFRP projects as they have been delivered.
Sarah Mansfield interjected.
Harriet SHING: You have been there? Then you would know full well what is being achieved. The Commonwealth will be in a position to provide better information on costs and on the progress of work to deliver these important outcomes.
Sarah Mansfield: On a point of order, President, the minister did not provide an answer to my question. I would ask if a written response could be provided, if possible, in due course.
The PRESIDENT: I will determine that at the end of question time, so you can ask your supplementary and we will see.
Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:43): I am looking forward to finding out how much these projects are going to cost. But the federal water minister Tanya Plibersek has made it clear that by failing to sign up to the new basin agreement Victoria will not receive Commonwealth funding for flood plain restoration projects from July next year. Minister, how do you plan to reach your environmental water commitments without funding for flood plain restoration projects from the Commonwealth government?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:44): It is in the Commonwealth’s interest to see significant volumes of environmental water returned beyond the record volume that Victoria has returned to the system to date. That is where the Commonwealth remains interested in delivering these flood plain restoration and management projects. That is where they will actually deliver significant benefit to the environment. I am looking forward to the Commonwealth being in a position to contribute and indeed to commit the funding necessary to ensure that these projects are completed. The Commonwealth does not quibble with the value of projects that return water to the environment, and I would hope that position has not changed. I would also hope, when and as we talk about returning water to the environment, that we are talking about the northern basin, that we are talking about those sorts of areas of the Darling River which are the iconic images of dead rivers, of fish deaths, and that we are talking about getting water onto the flood plain. I am looking forward to officers and indeed my federal counterpart being in a position to agree to that funding, which is indeed what we would like to see happen in the coming months.