Wong’s Water Plan an Expensive Fiasco

Joint Media Release: The Hon Greg Hunt MP Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water Senator Fiona Nash Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Water Resources and Conservation Despite splurging $50 million on water entitlements and allocating another $4 billion to various water-saving projects, Federal Water Minister Penny Wong has no idea how much if any water will be returned to the Murray-Darling. This shocking admission in Senate Estimates today reveals the shallowness of the Rudd Government’s water strategy. Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water, Greg Hunt, said the Federal Government’s much-vaunted water buy-back had yielded little more than a few bits of very expensive paper. “Penny Wong has spent $50 million on buying water entitlements that will return virtually nothing to the environment,” Mr Hunt said. “It has yielded only enough water to fill 850 large swimming pools. “Because of the ongoing drought, the amount of real water farmers can take from the system is currently about 9 per cent of their entitlement. So what Ms Wong has effectively bought are pieces of paper granting the right to extract water that doesn’t actually exist. “Under further questioning in the Estimates today, Ms Wong couldn’t answer a simple question about how much water would be saved as a result of the $3.985 billion allocated in-principle to various water projects. “It beggars belief that the Government has allocated nearly $4 billion of taxpayers’ money to various water schemes without asking the fundamental question: how much water will this save?” Mr Hunt said. Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Water Resources and Conservation, Senator Fiona Nash, said shaky performances by Ms Wong today and in last night’s Four Corners program showed that the jet-setting Minister was making policy on the run at a huge expense to taxpayers. “This is the sort of debacle you get when you have a Minister spending more time in Argentina, Britain and Poland than Bourke, Moree and Condobolin,” Senator Nash said, referring to Senator Wong’s fondness for taxpayer-funded overseas travel. “Greg Hunt and I are spending next week visiting these Basin communities with local MPs so we can develop an informed and comprehensive Coalition water policy, contrasting with Labor’s ignorant and ad hoc approach,” Senator Nash said. Media contacts: Tina McGuffie (Mr Hunt) on 02 6277 2276 or 0417 361 732 Murray Lees (Senator Nash) on 02 6277 3075 or 0417 406 338

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