Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to inform the House of an exciting water project in south-east Tasmania. In July this year I was really pleased to announce a $10.5 million funding package to develop a recycled water scheme. It is a smart scheme that will ensure we use our precious water more efficiently. I am sure all Australians would agree that the preservation and conservation of water is a priority for this nation. That is why the Rudd Labor government has taken action to ensure we change the way we use and value our water.

To secure a long-term water supply for all Australians the Rudd government has developed a national water plan that incorporates all states and territories, including Tasmania. It is a nation-building plan that invests for the future and one that incorporates water infrastructure. It is a plan to revitalise our rivers and waterways. It is a plan that secures the nation’s water supplies in our cities and our towns.

This national plan is also about changing our usage to ensure we are more efficient and smarter with water as we adapt to climate change. Responding to climate change means we now have to manage our water supplies more carefully. It means we have to have a practical and common-sense response to the impact that climate change is having on the towns and cities where millions of Australians live and on rural and regional Australia. In our changing environment every drop of water does count.

Cast your mind back to before the last federal election when the previous Australian government, the Howard government, left Tasmania off the map of its $10 billion so-called ‘national’ water plan. Tasmania does have a large and diverse agriculture industry and its needs were largely ignored by the previous government. The Rudd government has now rectified Tasmania’s exclusion. Preserving water is a national priority but so too is conserving our valuable waterways. That is why we have developed a truly national plan to encompass all the states and territories, including Tasmania.

Federal Labor has set a national target of recycling 30 per cent of waste water by 2015. Tasmania’s progress in water recycling sets a very good example. I am proud to stand here today to inform the House that south-east Tasmania will now have access to additional water under a $10.5 million water scheme funded by this Rudd Labor government. The government is funding stage 1 of the south-east Tasmania water-recycling scheme. When this scheme is fully implemented it will significantly reduce the effluent discharges into the Derwent Estuary, through the development of an integrated recycling and irrigation system. The fully completed scheme will integrate six sewage treatment plants, which currently discharge effluent directly into the Derwent Estuary, with a connection to the Clarence City Council’s recycled irrigation scheme. The scheme will take 75 per cent of the discharge volume and contaminants and reduce the level of municipal waste water by recycling it for agricultural use in the region.

This million-dollar funding package honours an election commitment and is part of the Rudd government’s $12.9 billion Water for the Future plan to secure long-term water supply for all Australians. Water for the Future has four key priorities: taking action on climate change, using water wisely, securing water supplies and supporting healthy rivers. Funding for the south-east Tasmania project is drawn from the $250 million National Water Security Plan for Cities and Towns, which is funding practical projects like pipelines, water-saving infrastructure and water treatment plants. Stage 1 of the south-east Tasmania recycled water scheme will connect the Rokeby sewage treatment plant to an existing irrigation system to make available an additional 730 megalitres per annum of recycled water.

The Rudd government funding will pay for the construction of a 900-megalitre buffer dam to enable storage of the recycled water when demand for irrigation purposes is low. This will allow additional water to be made available to the irrigation area when it is required. By 2011, when this work is complete, up to 2,400 megalitres per annum of recycled water will be available for irrigation. This will be an increase of 1,100 megalitres over the current supply. This million-dollar contribution will allow irrigators to take advantage of the increased recycled water supplies.

This is certainly a common-sense and practical response that will also have a positive impact on the local economy. It will provide opportunities to grow the region’s agricultural base, especially in horticulture. It will create jobs on farms and in packaging and processing. It will deliver a real economic dividend for the south-east of Tasmania. I congratulate all my federal colleagues, particularly my Tasmanian colleagues—the member for Lyons, the member for Denison and Labor Senator Carol Brown—for all the work they have done to support this practical water project and the federal Minister for Climate Change and Water, Penny Wong, for her assistance in delivering the funding so quickly.