Media Statement - 20th November 2007
A Rudd Labor Government will invest an additional $1.5 billion in water reforms and will bring forward $400 million under the $10 billion National Plan for Water Security to fast-track improvements in water efficiency, significantly invest in key water infrastructure projects and address over-allocation.
The water crisis in Australia threatens the very fabric of our great country. The drought and climate change are reducing rainfall, drying rivers and emptying dams.
Despite living on the driest inhabited continent on earth, Australians use more water per head than any other country on the planet. Water rights across our nation have been over-allocated, undervalued and misdirected.
Urgent action is needed by all governments, all industry and all Australians to change the way we use and value water. Tackling the water crisis and securing future water supply requires all Australians to work together to use water more efficiently, cut water wastage, more effectively capture rain and stormwater, and adapt to the impact of climate change.
A Rudd Labor Government will work with State and Local Governments, farmers, industry and the community to secure Australia’s long-term water supply.
A Rudd Labor Government will tackle the water crisis with a truly national scheme for investment in water infrastructure, sustaining our farmers, revitalising our rivers and waterways, securing water supplies in our cities and towns and adapting water use to ensure we are more efficient and smarter with water as we adapt to climate change.
Climate change and drought mean Australia has to find new bulk water supplies and be more efficient with water. Federal Labor totally rejects the statement by Treasurer Peter Costello on 9 May 2007 that “meeting the urban water crisis was a job for State Governments, not the Federal Budget”.
A Rudd Labor Government will support greater use of recycled water, desalination and stormwater to ensure we secure water supplies for urban areas.
On 25 January, the Prime Minister announced the $10 billion National Plan for Water Security, mainly to address the crisis in the Murray Darling Basin.
The Prime Minister got the headline right but the detail wrong, and the 2007 Federal Budget’s allocation of only $53.8 million – or just one half of one per cent of the $10 billion - in the current financial year confirms that the Plan aimed to fix a political crisis, not the water crisis.
Funding to sort out the urgent problems in the Murray-Darling Basin should be front end–loaded, not geared to the last seven years of the Howard 10-year plan, as the Government proposes. It will cost less to sort out problems sooner rather than later.
If we don’t restore the health of our river systems as quickly as we can, then the communities, farmers and industries that rely on them will suffer grievously. Unless we act now, essential water supplies to Adelaide from the Murray River will be put seriously at risk.
To make matters worse, the Prime Minister’s plan was national only by name, neglecting to address the water crisis in our coastal towns and cities where 18 million Australians live, as well as leaving Tasmania and Western Australia off the map.
Last week, Malcolm Turnbull reversed a key part of the National Plan for Water Security saying it “does not matter” who has responsibility for water allocations in the Murray Darling Basin.
Federal Labor will end the blame game over water and get things done. Federal Labor’s fresh approach to the water crisis includes measures to:
- Invest $1 billion in urban desalination, water recycling and stormwater capture projects that are consistent with environmental best practice and are carbon neutral.
- Invest $250 million modernising and repairing existing water systems and infrastructure in our towns and cities.
- Establish a national target of recycling 30 per cent of wastewater by 2015.
- Invest $250 million in direct rebates for rainwater tanks and grey water systems in households.
- Help households with low interest green loans of $10,000 so they can more easily install water and energy efficient products, such as rainwater tanks and solar hot water.
- Work with industry, farmers and community groups to return water to rivers and conserve water in towns and cities.
- Bring forward $400 million in spending under the National Plan for Water Security to fast-track improvements in water efficiency, significantly invest in key water infrastructure projects and address over-allocation.
The water crisis in the Murray Darling Basin and our towns and cities across Australia has not occurred overnight. The Prime Minister has been complacent about water and denied climate change for over a decade.
As a nation we must take action on water and climate change every year, not just in election years.