Subject:
Water, Senator Amanda Vanstone
E&OE...
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister John Howard joins us right now. Prime Minister, good morning and welcome to Adelaide.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning Keith and Tony.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, no prize for guessing what the topic ought to be for us in South Australia at the end of the Murray; the water question. Of the many, how do you placate someone like Mike Rann who says look, if you take over in any way, get a national thing going with the Murray-Darling, we are at the wrong end of things. We will be the losers. That is his stance, how do you persuade him?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well he's been a loser under the existing arrangements. No state has been more disadvantaged by the current arrangements than has South Australia. And it's the insensitivity of other state interests to the position of South Australia which has led in part to our decision to take the decision that I announced last week. You see, on earlier occasions, Mr Rann has complained to me with some feeling about the slow progress of all of the initiatives to do with the Murray-Darling Basin and he said that South Australia, which runs the risk; Adelaide in particular, runs the risk of not having enough drinking water in 15 or 20 years time, or even earlier unless some improvement occurs. He's complained to me very bitterly about the progress and has said that he's at the end, his state is at the end of the line and because the agreements just haven't been honoured by the other states, for example, there was a voluntary cap out of the basin introduced 12 years ago; Queensland has never observed it, nor has the ACT, and New South Wales has frequently broken it...
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, he's also concerned that you as a, well any national body would be influenced by the very powerful politics of New South Wales and Queensland and that basically the irrigators upstream...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't bring a New South Wales or Queensland perspective to this. I bring an Australian perspective and we have got to stop thinking as Queenslanders and South Australians and Victorians and think as Australians because this is an Australian asset. The rivers flow across the state borders and the idea that you can solve this problem by some kind of trade-off between the different states is living 50 years ago. This is too big a problem, and it has to be solved nationally. We are offering to take over a huge problem generated entirely by the states, that's the problem of over-allocation within the Murray-Darling Basin. We didn't create it. The Commonwealth doesn't make water allocations. We're not responsible for the over-allocations, but we are prepared to fix that problem and pay in full for the fixing of that problem. Now this is an offer that I believe can cut through and lay the basis of solving a huge problem because 70 per cent of Australia's water is consumed in the agricultural sector and we have a plan to fix 70 per cent of this problem. Now it's an offer that I very earnestly encourage the states to accept, does involve a referral of power to the Commonwealth, it won't work otherwise, and it can't go ahead otherwise.
JOURNALIST:
Would you not use the corporations power ultimately in the national interest?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't think it's a question of using the corporations power, but the best and cleanest way of fixing this problem is for the states to refer their powers. But I made it very clear last Thursday that our plan, and the payment of the money, was conditional on the power referral and I am writing to the states this week outlining in more detail what is involved in the power referral. But the plan is very straight forward. It's the biggest single investment in water infrastructure that Australia's ever seen, it will tackle the problem of wastage and evaporation in the irrigation systems of the country and it will, through the provision of a $3 billion structural adjustment fund, tackle the problem of over allocation which is fundamental to a long term solution. And that problem of course did not occur on our watch, we're not responsible for one iota of the over allocation, it all has happened at the instance of the states, yet we are prepared to deal with it and pay for a solution to it.
JOURNALIST:
It's a quarter past eight, we're talking to Prime Minister John Howard on his way to Sydney. Prime Minister just briefly, obviously a subject close to South Australians and perhaps even of both sides of politics, the demise of Amanda Vanstone. The strong tip today is that she maybe going very shortly to become the ambassador for Italy. Is there...perhaps a question might arise for voters that that might be somewhat indecent haste given they voted her in for another four years?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look, I haven't speculated about those matters and I don't intend to. I saw Amanda last week and we had a discussion and I indicated for reasons that we discussed that I wouldn't be including her in the Cabinet. I have an enormous regard for her as an individual and I thank her very warmly for the contributions she's made. She's been in the ministry for the whole time that my Government has been in power, so compared with others in the coalition, she has certainly had a very good run in the ministry.
JOURNALIST:
Did she indicate that she'd stay for another four years?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I'm not going to get into speculation about her future, that really is a matter for her, and I'm simply not going to add to what is only speculation.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister we really appreciate the chance to talk this early in the year and we hope we can continue what is a major conservation for us about water.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it's not only a major conversation for South Australians, it's a huge conversation for the whole country and we have to tackle it in a root and branch way. It's no good nibbling at the edges, and part of the solution is stopping the evaporation and loss of water through wastage that way, and the other big issue is this issue of over allocation of water entitlements. And we have come up with a plan that will address it but that plan won't work unless the governance of the Murray-Darling Basin is put on a national footing and I think all South Australians will benefit (inaudible)
JOURNALIST:
We're just starting to break up, we're just starting to lose you and thank you very much for your time this morning Prime Minister.
[ends]