WONG: Thank you very much for coming. I’m very pleased to be here with David Crombie and Deb Kerr from the NFF to make this announcement. So we’ll go through exactly what we’re announcing today. There may be some other questions from the media on other issues and so I’d like to take them at the end if I may.

I’m very pleased to be here to announce with the NFF the $300 million on-farm irrigation efficiency program. This is a program which was funded in the Federal Budget: $300 million for on-farm irrigation efficiency grants. And can I say and give due credit to David and Deb and the rest of the NFF. It was a program funded very much at the urging of stakeholders such as the National Farmers Federation and we’ve been very pleased to work in partnership with the NFF to develop the guidelines which I’m announcing today as well as opening the program for grant applications.

We’ve always been clear as the Rudd Government that we have an enormous amount of work to do in the Murray-Darling Basin. We’re battling years of mismanagement, we’re battling climate change and drought. And we are absolutely committed in our determination to work with irrigators, with farmers and with community to provide a more sustainable future for the Basin. And our plan involves a range of things. First obviously, the Government has taken over Basin planning which will result in a Basin-wide plan and cap based on science for the first time in the nation’s history. But before that happens – because there is obviously a lot of work associated with that – we’re getting on with the job of purchasing water and investing in infrastructure.

So we’re very pleased today to be here with the NFF to announce this investment in on-farm irrigation efficiency. This is about helping irrigators do more with less. To work on-farm to improve their efficiencies, to improve their productivity and future viability in an era where we are likely – unfortunately – to be continuing to grapple with the likelihood of less water.

There are also stories today about water purchase and I want to make this very clear. That is a prong of the Government’s policy and we have always been up-front about that. We don’t apologise for purchasing water for the Murray-Darling Basin. It is the quickest way to assist in restoring the health of the Murray. In addition, purchasing water helps irrigators with the transition. We know that we are preparing for a future where we are likely to see less water. We know that the Basin cap is likely to be set below where entitlements currently are. This is an investment now in that transition so we don’t leave irrigators to make this transition on their own.

And finally just in relation to this program: $300 million Commonwealth delivered, working with delivery partners which could include industry organisations such as the NFF, rice growers, could include catchment management authorities, could include irrigation corporations to deliver on-farm efficiencies. Efficiencies that we believe are there, that irrigators can find with assistance and with Commonwealth support. We’re very happy to be providing it. I don’t know if David wantS to make a few comments, and we’re happy to take questions on the announcement.

CROMBIE: Well thank you very much Minister Wong and I’ll just confirm that NFF is really pleased to be involved in today’s launch of the on-farm irrigation efficiency program. We’ve been calling on the Government to ensure that the Water for the Future program is balanced: balanced between the buyback of water and the upgrading of infrastructure. That is, improving efficiency and fixing the leaks.

So these on-farm projects deliver a range of benefits. There’s water savings that will be shared between the environment and farms. Farmers will achieve better on-farm efficiencies through a whole range of on-farm measures and of course, local employment will be enhanced because a lot of the improvements will be done at that local and regional level. So we think the benefits will be shared throughout the regional communities. Today’s announcement, we believe, is a really positive step. It goes part way to restoring the balance in the water program delivery. We welcome the guidelines and we encourage irrigators to get engaged. Thank you Minister.

WONG: Thanks David. happy to take questions on the announcement.

JOURNALIST: Is $300 million enough … for either of you to provide the infrastructure that is required for irrigators to be more efficient?

WONG: Well clearly it’s a significant investment; it’s not all we’re investing. I mean this is part of $5.8 billion program. The majority of which is in commitments to the States. We would obviously be encouraging the States to bring those projects forward as quickly as possible. I’m very mindful of the time it’s taken for that to occur. We’d certainly like these projects to be funded – brought to the Government for funding – more quickly. What I can say is that the money is there, committed and available. We’re absolutely serious about doing both things – both purchasing and investing both on- and off-farm to increase efficiencies. I think it was the NFF who coined the phrase ‘more crop per drop.’ That’s really what we need to do in the Murray-Darling Basin.

CROMBIE: Yes I’d support the Minister’s comments on that. I mean we’ve seen a lot of money spent on buybacks. We’d like to see these Federal-State partnerships advancing. They’ve been altogether too slow. The $300 million, well, we welcome it, we’d like to see that as a first step.

JOURNALIST: Has there been too much buyback and not enough infrastructure, as far as you’re concerned so far?

CROMBIE: We’ve supported buyback of water from willing sellers. We’ve supported that. We’ve made some comments about engagement with local communities and we’ve made comments about measuring where it goes in the environment and what the benefits are. So we’ve made comments about that. But we support buyback of water from willing sellers but we think the balance is the important thing and the balance is all about getting the job done on-farm, working with farmers to enhance their productivity and their efficiency and really importantly, getting these programs going with the States. I think that’s where the program has been really slow.

WONG: Can I just say on that too. I just want to really acknowledge the leadership that the NFF has shown. It’s very easy in the water space for people to tell people what they want to hear. It’s very easy in the water space to pretend that there is not a problem. This is not an organisation that has done that and this is not a government that is going to do that. We know that we have a huge challenge in the Basin and the way that we have to resolve it is by working in partnership with irrigators, their communities and also to restore water to the rivers. It’s not always easy and there will be bumps along the way. But it is absolutely critical that we remember we are about restoring health to the rivers of the Basin and ensuring a viable, sustainable future for irrigators in what is such an important region for Australia.

JOURNALIST: What are your thoughts on the Productivity Commission’s report that suggests that the Government actually has got a … approach to buying back water? It’s the wrong amount and the wrong water and so it’s got a fairly limited success for the environment?

WONG: Can I just make a couple of comments about that. First, this is an issues paper I think by the Productivity Commission. Second, I reiterate what I said before. We make absolutely no apology for purchasing water for the Murray-Darling Basin. I think what we see time and time again, whether it’s the CSIRO studies or the Sustainable Rivers Audit is that this is a river system that is in poor health and it is not in the interest of communities nor of the nation for that to be allowed to continue.

It is the case – if we were starting this ten years ago – you might have your plan and then you might work to it. But we don’t have that luxury; we have to act now. And we are acting now and we are doing both things. We are doing the plan and the draft plan will be out next year. But before that I think it would be irresponsible for governments to sit on our hands, not invest in infrastructure, not purchase water when we know that down the track we are going to have to do that. It would just be deferring the problem. I don’t think that would be a good thing for irrigation communities or industries and certainly not a good thing for the Murray-Darling Basin.

JOURNALIST: What about suggestions that only a third of the water purchased in the last financial year has actually made its way back into the (inaudible)?

WONG: I am sure that Deb and David could tell you what some of their members have currently got in allocation. When we purchase water we stand in the same shoes as any irrigator and we know that inflows are unfortunately extremely low. I think that in the River Murray we have seen over the last three years inflows at about one-fifth of the long term average – that is what we are working at. The Government stands in the shoes of any other entitlement holder, so if the allocation levels are low, then obviously allocation to our entitlement is low. But let’s remember this is the first time that the national government has ever had any environmental water allocation, ever held environmental water entitlement. And that’s an important thing and a good thing for the river.

JOURNALIST: Is enough water being stopped from being sold to irrigators in Queensland?

WONG: Well I get that question with different states depending on where I am. I think that it’s important to remember that pointing the finger at different states is not the way that we are going to resolve the challenge of the Murray-Darling Basin. The fact is that there are problems across the Basin. What we need to do is what we have done – to take over Basin planning so we have a Basin-wide cap, a Basin-wide plan that the States will have to work to. And before we have that to do is exactly what we are doing, investing now on-farm and off-farm to increase efficiencies to ensure a viable prosperous future for our irrigators and the communities in which they live and also to purchase water to return water to the rivers.

JOURNALIST: Just on this new plan. How do the irrigators get hold of the money and how soon can they get hold of it?

WONG: Well I am releasing guidelines today and as David said I would encourage irrigators to look at the guidelines to work with delivery partners to put forward programs. We are keen to get this funding rolled out as soon as we are able to.

CROMBIE: I might just add a comment to that. We would like to accelerate quickly as well because we would like to see the $300 million used quickly and then we would like to go back for more.

WONG: He is good like that, never loses an opportunity.

JOURNALIST: Does the Government have any plans to buy Cubbie Station in Queensland?

WONG: I think I have already made some comments about that. We assess any purchase on the basis for value for taxpayers, and including environmental value. There obviously were some concerns on those fronts in terms of advice to government with Cubbie. They are compounded also by the fact that the plan that separates water and land entitlement in that particular region is currently, I believe, the subject of legal challenge. So the Government chose not to put in a tender at this point.

JOURNALIST: Thank you.

WONG: I just wanted to comment on a couple of climate change matters if I may. You might have seen some media reports today which suggest that there are members of the Coalition scheming procedural tactics to avoid bringing the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme to a vote when the Government re-presents it. I want to make a couple of comments about this and be very clear. Climate change is too important an issue to play these sorts of tricky procedural games with.

Mr Turnbull has said to the Government he wants to negotiate in good faith. Well there are too many Liberal members, too many members of the Liberal Party, who appear to be scheming to prevent this from happening. And let’s remember these are the same people who for over a decade in Government sought to prevent any action on climate change today. So it’s exactly the same game being played by sceptics in the Liberal Party who don’t want action on climate change. They didn’t want it when they were in government and now they are trying every tricky procedural tactic to avoid taking action on climate change now.

We are prepared to sit down and have the discussion with Mr Turnbull when he presents amendments supported by his party room. It’s time for members of the Liberal Party to stop playing these tricky political games on an issue as important as climate change.

JOURNALIST: So what do you say to claims by those sceptics that you are just trying to shut down debate and prevent an extension of debate on the very important issue?

WONG: Can I make a couple of points about that. First, the Government has released this legislation I think in March of this year. So I don’t know how after this many months of this issue, this legislation being out for the Parliament and the public to see – I don’t know how much more information the Government could put out there. That’s the first point. So we released this legislation in March for the Parliament to consider and we are very happy to have a debate about it.

The second point is this. The reason this was not debated in detail on the last occasion is because the Liberal Party refused to allow it to be debated. The Liberal Party, let’s remember, first spent a week trying to avoid having a debate. They filibustered and debated and delayed to avoid having a debate. They then refused to allow the Bill to even be read a second time to have a committee stage. So it is the Liberal Party who has refused to engage in the detail of this legislation. The Government has been quite prepared to debate the detail of this legislation. So when it comes forward again this time, it’s time the Liberal Party stopped doing anything they can to avoid action on climate change and were prepared to actually have the discussion and the debate with the Government in the Parliament.

[ENDS]