Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Urban Water) Share this | Hansard source

I wish today to raise two issues which will affect constituents not just within my electorate but within all electorates in relation to the budget delivered last night. The first is the loss of community water grants. What will happen now is that sports clubs and environment groups will effectively lose their access to up to $50,000 to achieve water savings and water quality outcomes for the people within not just the electorate of Flinders but electorates all around Australia. I refer specifically to examples from Flinders. Firstly, the $32,000 for water tanks for the Crib Point Community Garden will not be repeatable elsewhere around Australia. The funding for the Dromana Country Club, the Balnarring Bowls Club and the Somerville Bowling Club to make enormous savings in terms of water quality will not be achievable and it will affect the capacity of seniors to go about recreational activities, as well as water saving. These are important issues for Flinders; they are important issues for seniors all around Australia.

In addition to that, the $47,000 which was allocated to rehabilitate the Candowie Reservoir catchment is not the sort of thing which will henceforth happen. Catchments in need of significant riparian work will lose that funding. Firstly, environment groups and sports clubs will lose their capacity to make water savings, which is important of and in itself, and, secondly, the demonstration effect for young kids who are members of football and netball clubs and for people who are a part of sports clubs will be gone for ever. I think this is a very dangerous move. Communities will suffer as a result, and, importantly, water will be lost and children will lose that inspirational example.

A second grievance is the likely death of any federal funding for a Rosebud aquatic centre and the Phillip Island aquatic centre. Both were well advanced under the Regional Partnerships program and each was enormously valuable to seniors, families and low-income earners within their respective parts of the electorate—in Rosebud, in the southern peninsula, and on Phillip Island. The Rosebud program had been approved by the area consultation committee and sent through to Canberra; it was awaiting final approval. It has been axed. That is a real loss to the peninsula. I hope these programs can proceed, but I see now that there is a cloud hanging over them. (Time expired)

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