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Minister for Climate Change and Water

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Introduction

Thank you very much.

There are a great many dignitaries and important people at this forum.

Can I say to all of you, whether from Australia or from across the seas, welcome. Welcome to this forum and welcome to Australia. I am extremely pleased to be here and to be able to launch this year's Riversymposium.

I noticed on your posters the title "a future of extremes" and I did think when I saw that how appropriate that you are in this country because we are a country of extremes when it comes to climate and to water.

A country that one of our poets described as "a sunburnt country...a land... of drought and flooding rains" and unfortunately in recent times we have seen far more of the former than the later.

As you know all around the world, more and more rivers and water resources are coming under pressure.

This century we are seeing the combination of rising demand for food, intense competition for scarce water resources, a changing climate and declining river health.

Look at the Colorado River in the USA. More than a century of river damming, diversion and extraction has altered the river's natural balance. Now climate change further threatens the water security of 30 million people in seven states.

Or look at the Indus River, which flows from the Tibetan plateau and comprises Pakistan's most important source of fresh water for urban, industrial and agricultural use. It has been put at risk by extensive deforestation and industrial pollution.

These are but two examples of a growing global problem for which there are not a simple answers or quick fixes; a global problem that is being exacerbated by climate change.

Indeed I say to you, the need to address this worldwide problem will be one of the defining challenges of this new century.

And this Australian Government, a government that was elected in November last year, has recognised this and I stand before you as in fact the first Minister for Climate Change in the Federal Government and the Prime Minister consciously allocated both climate change and water to the single portfolio, because we recognised to a great extent they are two sides of the same coin.

As a dry continent with limited water resources and a naturally variable climate, Australia is not immune from this problem — in fact far from it.

As I said we are already a nation of extremes — of droughts and flooding rains. Indeed the natural ecology of Australia's rivers and wetlands is accustomed to such a boom and bust cycle.

But we now face more extremes — droughts, water shortages, and extreme weather events, all associated with climate change.

Australia-wide, in the country and in our cities, the complex challenge of managing scarce water resources between different competing values and uses is exercising the minds of Australia's governments and citizens.

The Murray Darling Basin

The challenge is experienced most keenly in the Murray Darling Basin. For more than 100 years, Australia has used the waters of its greatest river systems to build wealth, produce food and fibre, and to meet the everyday water needs of households and industry.

In 2005-06 — which was not a wet year — irrigated agricultural production in the Basin was valued at nearly $5 billion at the farm gate.

Typically, the Murray Darling Basin supports around 65 per cent of Australia's irrigated production, which in turn represents an economic base for many regional communities throughout the Basin.

But along with all these benefits, we've have inherited a significant overallocation problem in surface and ground water resources, and unfortunately a history of neglect for the health of our rivers and wetlands.

We've also inherited old and often-outdated water infrastructure, and many irrigated farming systems and practices that fall well short of best practice in efficient water use.

Climate change, which of course means less water and more drought, is compounding these problems.

In the southern Basin, that is the southern part of Australia, the evidence is growing that indications are that climate change is with us, here and now. And given IPPC scientific projections of further global warming, its impacts may become even more severe in the decades ahead.

For example over the last two years, inflows to the River Murray have been half the previous historic minimums.

In five of the eight catchments in the southern Basin, the last 10 years have seen inflows around CSIRO's — the Commonwealth's scientific body — worst case projections for 2030.

Let's just reflect on that; in over half of the eight catchments in the southern part of Australia, what we are seeing is worse than the worse case climate change projections for 2030.

As a result, Basin governments have had to put contingency arrangements to guarantee water for towns and cities, including my home town of Adelaide, over the next twelve months.

Meanwhile, with water storage levels in the southern Basin at record low levels, irrigators are facing yet another year of low or non-existent allocations.

It's therefore not surprising that key environmental icons of the Basin, such as the Chowilla floodplain, the Macquarie Marshes, Gunbower Pericoota forest, and the Lower Lakes and Coorong, are each under serious stress right now; something that cannot be turned around overnight.

All this has presented the Australian Government with a complex set of challenges; they are in effect competing demands on a shrinking supply of water.

And these problems are all interrelated. Take, for example, the Lower Lakes and Coorong in my home state of South Australia.

The problems there are problems that have been many decades in the making, and reflect most of all the historic over-allocation of water resources. More recently, this current long sequence of dry years, and the previous two years in particular, have seen water levels in the Lakes drop to the point where acidic sediments are at risk of exposure. Meanwhile communities and farmers dependent on the Lakes for their freshwater needs are now in desperate need of alternative water supplies.

Already this year, the Rudd Labor Government has committed $200 million to the South Australian Government towards a long-term solution to the environmental problems facing the Lower Lakes and Coorong. We've also committed a $120 million to provide alternative freshwater supplies to Lake-dependent communities.

But unfortunately, there is no miracle cure for the Lower Lakes, and there are no quick fixes.

We cannot use water we do not have.

The first priority of this Government is — and has to be — the drinking water supplies of the communities who rely on these rivers, including Adelaide.

We also have to ensure that in saving one icon site, we don't sacrifice all the others.

And we cannot abandon our irrigators.

We need solutions that restore the balance in the Basin. And this is the focus of the Australian Government.

With that in mind, I would like to give you a quick summary of the Australian Government's long term plans for action on our great Murray Darling river system.

Having secured an historic agreement to reform the Murray Darling Basin in July, a new, independent Murray Darling Basin Authority is being established to put in place a much better system for managing the Basin in the national interest.

The first and biggest task for the Authority is to develop a new Basin Plan by 2011; a Plan that will include a sustainable limit on the amount of water that can be taken from our rivers and groundwater systems.

Putting in place a whole new system for managing the Murray Darling Basin will take some time. We need to do the detailed work to know how much water our rivers and groundwater systems can provide in the context of climate change. And we need to balance the amount of water needed keep the Basin Rivers healthy while continuing to provide water for households and food production at the same time.

Importantly, under this new arrangement the decision on a new Basin Plan and cap rests with the Commonwealth Minister alone. So for the first time we will manage the Murray Darling Basin to reflect the fact that rivers flow across state borders.

Water for the Future

By the time the new Basin Plan is in place in 2011, the Federal Government will have purchased over $1 billion in water entitlements and invested heavily in making our food bowl more resilient to the impacts of climate change by improving irrigation infrastructure.

As the first national Government to directly purchase water entitlements, we are investing $3.1 billion over ten years to do this.

By using a suite of measures to purchase water entitlements now, we are ensuring the rivers get a greater share of water when it does rain.

We have also committed $5.8 billion to help make Basin communities more efficient and productive with the water that is available. We will do this primarily by reducing the amount of water lost through out-dated, leaky infrastructure and by improving water management practices generally. This will make the nation's food bowl more resilient to climate change, and assist irrigation communities to adjust in anticipation of a new Basin cap.

As out our farmers' organisation has said we have to have more crop per drop.

In the Murray Darling Basin, CSIRO, the Commonwealth scientific organisation, will shortly wrap up its sustainable yields project, which is projecting a dryer future for the basin by 2030.

More recently, the Government has commissioned this organisation to undertake similar assessments in three other regions of Australia.

Assessments will be undertaken in south-west Western Australia, which has experienced a significant reduction in rainfall in recent years, as well as in Tasmania and in Northern Australia where we are also undertaking a five-year water assessment program.

This program will provide essential information on Australia's future water resources.

Together, these investments form a significant and substantial part of Water for the Future. Water for the future is the Australian Government's $12.9 billion over ten years to address water security in the context of climate change across the nation.

The Plan delivers on four pillars of water management:

• Taking action on climate change;
• Using water wisely;
• Securing water supplies; and
• Supporting healthy rivers.

Riverprizes

In addition to these substantial investments, the Australian Government also supports research and innovation in the water sector and we are pleased to be a sponsor of the Riverprizes, a great initiative of the International Riverfoundation for promoting best practice in catchment management.

Since it was first awarded in 2001, the National Riverprize has celebrated outstanding achievements in Australian river and catchment management. Yet we know there is still much to learn and improve in the management of our very sensitive water catchments, particularly in the context of the very dry conditions still being experienced in much of our country.

Acknowledging this, I am pleased to announce today that the Australian government is to contribute one million dollars to the International Riverfoundation to enhance the National Riverprize. This will enable the foundation to enhance the Riverprize, and assist prize winners to disseminate their knowledge and experience for the benefit of the nation.

Conclusion

We are all of us — whether in Australia or elsewhere — facing a future of serious challenges and what we know is that the penalties for inaction, or for inappropriate 'quick fixes', will be severe.

The challenge is to manage water in our shared interests for the long term. We need long-term solutions for the communities in which live in, for our uniquely valuable rivers and wetlands, and for our way of life and prosperity.

As I have outlined the Rudd Government has a plan for Australia's water future. This is a plan that faces head-on the challenges of water scarcity and water security without shirking the hard, but necessary decisions, to ensure our future.

So I am very pleased to be here to open this conference. Can I tell you this, I do believe that this one the great national an international challenges, water in the face of climate change and in the face of increasing population and increasing demand on resources. I hope your discussion over the next few days will be fruitful and will help point the way for not just Australia but the world when it comes to managing our water resources.

Thank you very much.

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