Mr WETTENHALL (Wednesday 10 March 2010) (7.59 pm): I rise to speak against the disallowance motion relating to the Water Resource (Barron) Amendment Plan (No. 1) 2009. In debates of this kind that have attracted litigation it is always tempting to selectively quote from judgements of courts. I would suggest that that is exactly what has happened tonight in the speeches made by the members for Callide and Dalrymple. Unless I am mistaken, what we have heard-without the specific court cases being identified and the parties being identified and without the result of that litigation being included in the debate-is some very selective quoting.
I am looking forward to hearing further speakers in support of this disallowance motion elaborating and informing this House on the result of the litigation that has been the subject of remarks in the speeches of the members for Callide and Dalrymple. It is one thing to quote selectively from litigation and it is another thing to properly inform the House what the result of that litigation was. I look forward to hearing exactly that from future speakers.

It is, of course, important that these water resource plans and specifically this amendment plan are directed primarily to two things: the sustainable use of water resources in our catchments and security for those persons who are allocated water. They are really the two objectives of this amendment plan.

The Barron Water Resource Amendment Plan will provide the community and water users with the security of water supply which is vital for the future of the region. This plan is about providing existing water users in the region with the type of flexible trading opportunities that underpin good water management across Australia. The Bligh government has listened to the community and we have developed a plan which will increase access to water entitlements, encourage efficiency and provide the opportunity for entitlement holders to trade water.

Under the amendments developed in close consultation with the community, water users in the Atherton area above Lake Tinaroo will see surface water flows and groundwater more equitably shared. The planned provisions will provide irrigators with the flexibility necessary to adapt to and keep pace with fast-changing local and global markets. This plan is about securing future economic opportunities within natural and sustainable limits. It will provide for some of the most comprehensive and sophisticated water-trading arrangements in Australia. This will see efficiencies in production and provide for significant future enterprise development.

We have developed this plan in consultation with the community and as a result the majority of existing water users support the plan. An extensive consultation process was undertaken during the development and when the draft amendment plan was released in June 2008 for public submissions, 25
written submissions were received from the community.

This plan will give people the ability to relocate or temporarily trade water. Through this, it will promote diversity in irrigated agriculture and encourage
increased production driven by efficiency incentives.

Through the Barron Resource Operations Plan, the new provisions will result in the conversion of more than 200 water entitlements to tradeable water allocations.

To disallow this plan would be to deny water users and the Barron community access to the security and flexibility already provided to many communities all over Australia.

With many water entitlements in the Upper Barron unused or only partly used, trading underpinned by new efficiency measures will provide an opportunity for newcomers to obtain and relocate water allocations to support growth and encourage new users. Water users with supplies excess to their current requirements will be able to trade that water to other users who can put it to
productive use. Disallowing this plan would deny the local community that opportunity.

This plan will free up water that may be allocated but not fully utilised by entitlement holders. It will also encourage water users to find ways to produce the same or more with less water.

It is important to note that over 70 per cent of the predevelopment average annual flow of the Barron River at Tinaroo Falls Dam is already allocated for consumptive purposes. Metered water use data collected by the department in the Upper Barron River catchment for the 2007-08 water year shows that
the cumulative amount of water used by irrigators is considerably less than the volume of water authorised to be taken under existing entitlements. For purposes other than town water supply only 30 per cent of the water allocated was actually used. This means that approximately 25,000 megalitres, or 63 per cent, of water licence entitlements for the area were not utilised.

Trading arrangements through the Barron resource operations plan will allow holders of water entitlements the opportunity to trade unused water entitlements to other people. People who have excess water can trade it and those who do not have it and have a need for it can purchase it.

This is a far more efficient market, a win for the community and a win for future economic prosperity. The plan will also allow trading to be expanded to the Barron River's tributaries, those of Leslie and Peterson creeks and to part of Mazlin Creek.

This plan is the result of the Bligh government listening to the community to produce the most comprehensive framework for good water management that exists in Queensland. During the amendment process the Department of Environment and Resource Management worked closely with the Upper Barron Water Advisory Group, which was formed in 2004. The group was
set up by the minister for natural resources to ensure that the community could provide information about water resources in the region.

An example of the government listening to water users was the change made to the conversion factor for changing the area based surface water licences. It was increased from 6.6 megalitres per hectare in the original Barron Water Resource Plan to 10 megalitres per hectare in the amendment plan, a change supported by the Upper Barron Water Advisory Group and a fact omitted to
be mentioned by the member for Callide or the member for Dalrymple.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the 10 community representatives who formed the Upper Barron Water Advisory Group for the part they played in developing this plan.

With the Barron Water Resource Plan due for review in 2012, the government will continue to work with the Barron community to make continuous improvements to water management in the region. The motion to disallow this plan threatens the future of all water users in the Barron catchment.

For those reasons, I cannot support the disallowance motion.