Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I think Senator Hanson-Young started the question by suggesting that there was little in the budget for water. I want to respond to that. The senator, I assume, is not suggesting that a total of, I think, $328 million for investment in a desalination plant is a small amount. It is clearly a very significant amount. In addition, the bring-forward and additional spend in the next two years and over the forward estimates period, which was agreed with Senator Xenophon through discussions in the context of the Nation Building and Jobs Plan, will be delivered again and is reflected in the budget, and the commitment to the $12.9 billion, of which that is a part, is also reflected in the budget. So this is a government that is spending unprecedented amounts of money in the Murray-Darling Basin and restoring the balance in the basin. This is a government that is backing that expenditure in terms of purchases, investment and infrastructure for the benefit of communities and for the environment with investment in assisting the South Australian government to construct a desalination plant, because the government is of the view that all of us, particularly in the southern part of Australia, will need to diversify water sources, given the likely continued pressure on water supplies as a result of ongoing drought and climate change.

On the issue of water restrictions: as the senator well knows, they are matters for state governments; they are not regulated by federal governments. As I made clear in my press release in relation to the desalination plant announcement, our expectation is that this will assist in securing Adelaide’s water supply and in reducing reliance on the River Murray.