Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I want to ask the minister a couple of questions about the National Water Commission, which has been abolished under this budget. As the minister knows, this is an independent statutory authority that has been in place since well before the election of the Rudd government—I think for 10 years or so—that was set up as part of the intergovernmental agreement with COAG on national water issues. Its functions include triennial assessments of the performance of the states, implementing the National Water Initiative, advising and reporting on performance of the water industry more broadly under the National Water Initiative, delivery of the planning report card on the status of water plans that are in place across the country and delivery of national performance reports on the performance of both urban and rural water utilities. As the minister also knows, the Water Services Association of Australia and the Australian Water Association have both expressed grave concerns about the abolition of the National Water Commission.

Some of these questions were asked in Senate estimates without any clear answer. I wonder whether the minister can provide some more clarity around which functions currently undertaken by the water commission will be discontinued. For those that will continue to be undertaken, by whom will they be undertaken? If those decisions have not yet been made—if the minister is not able to answer those questions in detail—when will those decisions be made and announced to the parliament and, perhaps more importantly, to the sector and to the community? As I have outlined, the functions of the water commission involve very significant interaction with the states and territories but also with the water industry, represented by the two associations I referred to. I wonder whether the minister can detail the consultation undertaken with those bodies prior to the decision to abolish the water commission. Also, what discussions have taken place, in regard to those questions I have raised, with the states and particularly those party to the intergovernmental agreement, since the decision was announced to abolish the water commission?

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