Wednesday, 19 March 2025

Water policy

Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (10:13): I move:

That this house:

(1) notes that in 2022 the Victorian government published the Central and Gippsland Region Sustainable Water Strategy, which highlights the need to reduce reliance on river water for domestic, agricultural and industrial uses;

(2) further notes that as part of the strategy the government was to release the inaugural water grid plan in 2023, outlining options for future urban water supply measures, a cornerstone of reducing demand on river water and planning for growing population demands on water in a drying climate; and

(3) requires the Leader of the Government, in accordance with standing order 10.01, to table in the Council within three weeks of the house agreeing to this resolution, the water grid plan as outlined for release in the Central and Gippsland Region Sustainable Water Strategy.

The documents motion I am putting forward today is a very simple one: for the government to produce its water grid plan, a document flagged for release in 2023 but yet to be seen. The release of this plan should not be contentious. However, while it languishes on the Minister for Water’s desk many water corporations are stalled in their ability to plan for significant water management projects.

Victoria’s waterways are undeniably in a state of stress due to decades of overallocation and overextraction, paired with the drying conditions of climate change, which will see rainfall decrease by another 22 per cent at least before 2065. Now is very much the time to be taking action. Improvements in household water efficiency have seen demand for domestic water use fall relative to population growth for many years. However, we are now seeing the limits of this. With Australia’s population set to reach 40 million by 2063 and Victoria’s population, Melbourne’s in particular, really set to lead some of that growth, household demand for water in major urban centres like Melbourne is projected to require up to an extra 1450 gigalitres in our water supplies. That is the total volume of water currently supplied each year for Sydney, Melbourne and Perth combined. In the meantime, increasing natural disasters such as floods and bushfires are having a negative impact on our ability to capture potable water from rainfall.

A recent study of the Thomson River catchment, Melbourne’s largest water source, estimated a 13 per cent reduction in catchment water yield by 2050 due to the impact of recurring fires on water treatment capacity, so where is the water going to come from? Our rivers are already stressed and will be even more so with climate change. Water needs to be in our rivers and our waterways and underground to support our ecosystems, and we must ensure that traditional owners have their water rights realised. To sustain urban populations we need a plan for water supply that does not continually rely on extraction from our rivers, but what is the government planning to do? Water corporations are already trying to plan for this future of water scarcity but need direction from the state government. The regularly cited water grid plan, mentioned 132 times throughout the Central and Gippsland Region Sustainable Water Strategy, is meant to provide the scaffolding for decisions about where water is going to come from. Many essential actions within the strategy rely on the publication of this plan.

Specifically the feasibility studies and business case development for regionally significant supply options such as desalination and large-scale integrated water management projects are contingent on the water grid plan. These actions are critical to realising commitments for increased environmental flows in stressed river systems, and delay is pushing out the timelines for reduced reliance on river water set in the strategy. What is the place of recycled water in our future? How are we going to improve capture of urban stormwater in existing residential areas and embed water-sensitive design in our planning system? What will be the role of desalination?

While rural communities and ecosystems are feeling the brunt of Victoria’s drought conditions, urban communities will not be spared in a drying climate. We need a plan and we have been told there is one, but two years on from when that plan was expected to be released we are yet to hear a thing. This is urgent, and we would urge the government to release this document without delay.

Jacinta ERMACORA (Western Victoria) (10:17): I thank Dr Mansfield for her motion on water security, particularly in Gippsland and the central area. The government will not be opposing this motion, and there are plenty of good reasons for that. I am just going to give you a quick overview of the strategic planning framework and the work that gets done in the water sector to ensure that water runs out of the taps for every single urban household and that industry is also secure and the environment.

The Central and Gippsland Region Sustainable Water Strategy is only one key component of the water sector’s strategic planning framework. There is no room for error with water. Water is an essential service. These sustainable water strategies that each water corporation completes on a regular cycle in partnership with the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action are only one of the steps along the way.

In terms of covering off on the context there, the highest level direction that the government provides is the Water for Victoria water plan, which was initiated and completed by Minister Lisa Neville. It provides a high-level policy and direction for each of the water corporations and the boards. Then there are the sustainable water strategies which cover each region, and they are completed every 10 years. Then there are the urban water strategies. Each water corporation is required to complete one of these and to renew it every five years, and the contents of an urban water strategy are to look at the impacts of climate change in their service area, the impacts of population growth, industry and any other variables relevant with a required forward outlook of 50 years and then to identify an action plan that shows exactly what actions need to be taken and roughly an estimate of when and what that might cost. If you ask any water corporation in Victoria what is the next augmentation they need to do, they will be able to tell you pretty clearly because of these evidence-based studies that they do.

Then of course they have the pricing plan, which provides an accountable form of pricing structure. We have in Victoria with government-owned water some of the cheapest water in the country, so not only can Victorians be confident that water planning is very strong in this state and into the future, they can also be confident that the prices are held at bay.

Just before I finish off I want to give a little bit of context of what water is used for in Victoria and summarise this. This is generally of the same proportions around most regions in Victoria. Irrigation is roughly 54 per cent of the consumption of water in this state. Domestic and stock, which is for dryland farming, is about 3 per cent. Environmental flows are growing and constitute around about 41 per cent of the water provided out of the system and back into the environment. Urban water for residential customers is only roughly 17 per cent. So those proportions are incredibly stark, so one saving in the irrigation space could almost profoundly impact the outcomes around water savings quite easily. I just want to close by saying I think the water industry in Victoria has an awesome planning and strategic outlook and I am very confident that the grid will be available when required.

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (10:22): I want to say we support Dr Mansfield’s motion for documents, and this relates to the Victorian government’s central and Gippsland sustainable water strategy. It relates to a series of documents about the water supply and the urban water grid. It is not clear why these documents are not public anyway. We see this is an important step for the chamber to try to prise these documents from government. The chamber undoubtedly has the power. The chamber obviously is looking at the public interest here. The water strategy and the water grid documents are clearly plans that are of relevance to a broad group of people in the community. Whether it be agriculture, whether it be other water supply, that is important for communities. This will see the Leader of the Government requested to provide under standing order 10.01, within three weeks, the water grid plan as outlined for release. Again, a very simple fact: this is in the public interest. The opposition will be pleased to support this motion.

Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (10:23): As noted by others we will not be opposing Dr Mansfield’s short-form documents motion. Water is something that I think flies under the radar for a lot of people. It is not lost on me; I think I mentioned in my first speech in this place that drought saw us sell half of the family farm in 1983 and then the millennial drought pretty much finished us off, with dams gone and nearby lakes that would have had boats out and about and people fishing and whatnot just turned into paddocks where B&S balls were held. Again, as Dr Mansfield commented before, we are in a changing climate. We are 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. At 10 years of increased temperatures around the world, record after record being broken it would seem that we are in for hotter and drier conditions. Fortunately in recent years much of our state has had good rainfall, but of course in the south-west and in the far north-east we have seen drought conditions this year.

It is really important for our farms, our small towns and indeed our cities and our businesses, which rely on a reliable water supply, that we are managing that water. It is also incredibly important for our natural environment that our rivers and our wetlands are getting that water for the native animals that depend upon that water and to ensure that we are seeing biodiversity in our natural places so they are able to continue and be resilient and thrive year upon year. It is also about ensuring that the communities that depend on and have been built around that water have that water available.

I have personally been able to get out with Gippsland Water and see the work that they are doing on the ground in a whole range of areas of sustainability. Something I talk about a lot in this place is that we cannot have economic sustainability without environmental sustainability. Ms Ermacora touched on the incredible work our water corporations are doing to reduce water consumption, whether that is with households or businesses, because every drop of water that we do not use is a drop we do not need to find elsewhere, much the same as with other resources. There is incredible work being done on minimising that consumption and on that behaviour change and saving water use up-front but also the incredible investment that we are seeing across the state by our corporations in infrastructure. There is massive, massive investment scheduled between now and 2028 to see the proper use and supply of water in this state.

I mentioned Gippsland Water briefly, but I want to touch on the holistic nature of what they are doing down at Dutson Downs with treated water coming from the valley. It is used to work in with organic matter waste from our metropolitan areas. That is recycled into compost and that water is used on the massive farm they have down there. There are a number of points along the used water cycle. That they have been able to reuse and recycle that water is a fantastic example of what water corporations are doing all across our great state to ensure that not a drop is wasted. As I said at the start, as it standard practice, this motion will not be opposed, and I thank you for the time to contribute.

Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (10:28): We are pleased to be able to support this motion because we believe that it is really vital that we have transparency in this Parliament, and when it comes to water and requiring transparency on information about water and water planning, that is very important.

I was involved with the flood inquiry, and we saw the significant impact that the floods had on the river system and how it works in our region. I have spoken to a number of residents who are concerned about many of our rivers being quite clogged, which does have an impact on the delivery of water in the region. When I think about the water supply, I also think of Bendigo where we have an open channel of water that goes from Malmsbury right through to Bendigo. It was designed by an engineer, Joseph Brady, in the 1950s. That is still an open channel and has water evaporate, so we need to look at ways that we can be more efficient in the transfer and the delivery of water.

Another issue that has been very relevant to Northern Victoria is the federal government’s water buybacks. They have been having a huge impact on our region. We have seen, in the first year, 70 gigalitres of water sold, and then a further 100 gigalitres of water sold.

When that water is taken out of the market, it does increase the price of water and it has a big impact on farmers in the region. We have seen that historically. I know the state government has been strong in opposing those water buybacks, but it does continue under the Commonwealth government. I know the dairy industry is very important. There are 13,000 jobs just in Northern Victoria alone, and they rely on water. So we do encourage the government – it was back in 2023 that the Central and Gippsland Region Sustainable Water Strategy was put forward. But the water grid plan is something that is required from the Leader of the Government in accordance with the standing orders, so we support that. It is a tradition of this house. The ability of our chamber to request documents from the government is a long tradition. We support this motion.

Motion agreed to.