Country Water Supplies

Mr GERARD MARTIN: I address my question to the Minister for Water, Minister for Rural Affairs, and Minister for Regional Development. What action is the Government taking to secure water supplies across New South Wales, particularly in the country, and related matters?

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for South Coast to order. I call the member for South Coast to order for the second time.

Mr PHILLIP COSTA: I have not even started to speak and members opposite are picking on me, just as they picked on my good friend Alby Schultz, who is my good local Federal member. Indeed, he is such a good friend that I have encouraged the Minister for Environment and Climate Change to add him to the endangered species list. I thank the member for Bathurst for his interest in the management of our State's precious water supply, because we all know how important and serious this matter is. The question is relevant, given that today is National Water Week and the community is strongly encouraged to protect and conserve water, and get involved in water management. As the Minister for Water, I am driving key reforms that will see our water supply managed responsibly to meet the growing challenges of population growth, climate change and drought.

As members would be aware, the majority of New South Wales remains in severe drought. Indeed, for the past couple of weeks I have been spending time over the mountains, travelling in the west, where I visited towns such as Deniliquin to get a first-hand impression of what is going on there. I have been to Moree, Dubbo and Narrabri, and I will be visiting other parts of the State shortly. I have discovered that the drought has had many, many impacts. One example is in the township of Deniliquin, especially with the shutdown of the rice industry in the longest drought for many years. That impact has delivered serious social and economic problems to Deniliquin—problems that will take a whole-of-government approach to solve, including State, Federal and local.

Members on both sides of the House have a responsibility to ensure that we support the people in the west, particularly in towns such as Deniliquin, because they need our help. They have lost a great deal of the workforce and the hope that that delivered, which we need to restore. They have lost trained, skilled personnel. Some have travelled to the west to find work. We will have a big task ahead of us to bring those communities back to speed. Drought and the growing impact of climate change have put rural water management policies to the test like never before. I am pleased that so far we have withstood this test and delivered on our commitment that no New South Wales town will run out of water.

The problem with the drought is that, with such a limited water supply, we must have an equitable process to ensure the delivery of that supply is to our most critical in need. Indeed, in delivering water across the State, the New South Wales Government's critical water planning program for drought-affected areas has been so successful that last week the South Australian Government announced a program based on our model. New South Wales is leading the way and it will continue to do so. We are also the only State to meet the deadline and pass legislative changes to give appropriate water management powers to the Commonwealth and the new independent Murray-Darling Basin Authority. We moved on that quickly, and I thank members opposite for their support for that bill. It is great to see that today we have finalised the bill..

Mr Andrew Stoner: Wind it up.

Mr PHILLIP COSTA: I can answer the question of the Leader of The Nationals: I am up to speed. Under the Murray-Darling Basin intergovernmental agreement signed in July this year, New South Wales secured in-principle approval from the Commonwealth for more than $1.3 billion of funding for major infrastructure projects. This is a wonderful contribution, and we look forward to rolling that out. The dollars that will come to us will deliver real, on-the-ground results for New South Wales. The projects include up to $137 million to reduce water lost on farms by piping water for stock and domestic supply systems. When I visited the towns in the west, I spent quite a bit of time with the irrigators who are trying to manage their water supply. That project will make a great deal of difference.

I must add that I was impressed by the irrigators who are still getting access to water, particularly in the north west, in terms of their ingenuity and capacity for delivering good-quality services to their communities. For example, I visited some gentlemen in the Moree and Narrabri area, where they are putting technology in place to reduce their water use by 30 per cent. That kind of Australian spirit is what we want to see. They are still delivering things and doing a great job. Give credit where credit is due!

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Barwon is strongly supporting the Minister but he is out of order.

Mr PHILLIP COSTA: As the new Minister I had the pleasure to visit the west. The irrigators did not want to muck around in a building; they wanted to take my staff and me out on a bus to show us what is happening on the ground. We got on that bus and we went out and had a look.

The SPEAKER: Order! Members will cease interjecting.

Mr PHILLIP COSTA: We could see what they were doing, and I must give them full credit. They are doing a great job, and I know that will continue. We have a wonderful relationship with them. Another project is funding of up to $300 million for modernising river diverters and up to $221 million to upgrade the accuracy of water metering. The gentlemen I visited have put the science in place; they can tell us to the gigalitre, the megalitre and even down to the litre how much water they are using. We need to ensure that that happens right across the State and the $221 million from the Federal Government will help that. I hope members of the Opposition are listening to this good news. It is almost like Christmas time and Santa Claus.

The SPEAKER: Order! The House will come to order. I encourage the Minister to direct his remarks through the Chair. I call the member for Cessnock to order.

Mr PHILLIP COSTA: Mr Speaker, some of my anecdotes might refer to other related matters. Other projects involve $50 million to improve the management of water on the flood plains, and an indicative $650 million to private irrigators for water saving upgrades.

Mr Andrew Stoner: That is Federal money.

Mr PHILLIP COSTA: It is Federal money. We are in partnership with the Federal Government. The Federal Government and the State Government have unprecedented cooperation.

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Penrith to order. I call the member for Cessnock to order. I call the Leader of The Nationals to order.

Mr PHILLIP COSTA: Irrigators can apply directly through the Federal Government, which is a godsend to those communities and I look forward to them doing what they do best. In addition to leading the way with the Murray-Darling, the New South Wales Government is moving forward.

Mrs Shelley Hancock: What about the Shoalhaven?

Mr PHILLIP COSTA: We are looking after the Shoalhaven, just wait and see.

Mr Adrian Piccoli: Point of order: While I take a personal interest in the answer, he has been speaking for about 10 minutes. The member is clearly trying to pad out his answer to the end of Question Time. I ask you to draw him to a conclusion.

The SPEAKER: Order! I ask the Minister to commence concluding his answer.

Mr PHILLIP COSTA: I was so excited about my portfolio I got carried away with the time. I will be as quick as possible. The Government has gazetted 40 water-sharing plans, amended six major inland groundwater plans to reduce over-allocation, established a public register of all environmental water licences and I am moving to fix the issue of flood plain management. Only this morning Parliament passed new laws to enable more flexibility in how we share water during times of drought. Those laws send a clear message that this Government, and we as a community, will not tolerate water theft.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for South Coast is on her final warning. I call the member for Cessnock to order for the second time.

Mr PHILLIP COSTA: The Government will continually look at new measures to protect water supplies and help country towns. I heard many heartbreaking stories out there in the past two weeks. This Government will never give up on the bush. We are here to help members in the bush. The Government will dedicate its energy to help country communities and not have political infighting, as is apparently happening in the Coalition.