Today I have approved funding from the Australian Government Water Fund of more than $220 million for projects that will improve Australia's water infrastructure and the management of Australia's scarce water resources.
Appropriate arrangements will be made for the joint announcement of projects with the relevant states and territories.
In recent days claims have been made by the states regarding insufficient attention by the Commonwealth in response to funding requests submitted by the states for large projects.
I attach an information sheet outlining the status of these projects.
The Commonwealth remains ready to assess these projects on their merits as soon as all appropriate information has been provided.
Attachment - Status of Large Water Projects
New South Wales
The New South Wales Government originally submitted seven projects to round two of Water Smart Australia on 15 June 2006.
Following the Prime Minister's call for states and territories to nominate one or two transformative projects of national significance on 25 July 2006, the Premier wrote to the Prime Minister on 24 August 2006 reconfirming the NSW Rivers Environmental Restoration Program (seeking $105 million) and the Recycling in Western Sydney (seeking up to $155 million) as high priority projects and nominating three additional projects:
* Prospect Area industrial Roof Water Harvesting (preliminary request for $30 million)
* Central Coast Water Recycling Proposal (funding request to be confirmed)
* Newnes Plateau Mine Water Recycling Scheme (funding request to be confirmed)
The Premier's letter of 24 August states: