Subjects: Water
E&OE...........
JOURNALIST:
How did you find the water discussion….
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it was very interesting. This is one of the really big long term challenges Australia has. There';s no one simple solution. Clearly we need to allow the impact of market mechanisms to work more freely and effectively. We need to respect though the property rights of farmers, that';s a very important principle. I think we were given some good clues as to the way forward. As I say there';s no one single big project solution. All of the experts are saying to us that you cannot literally drought proof Australia. What you can do is to change practices over time. And you can encourage people at an individual property level to use the water more prudently. But you have to do that in a way that doesn';t arbitrarily take away people';s property rights.
JOURNALIST:
So do you think the suggestions put by the Wentworth Group today will guide you in planning how this issue should be handled?
PRIME MINISTER:
They were very helpful but I also want to say that the efforts of people in the non-scientific community to provide solutions and help, some of the suggestions of people like Mr Pratt and the Farmhand group, they';re all pushing in the same direction. I don';t think this is an issue where you declare that one group is right and the other group is wrong. It';s a question of looking at all the available evidence and trying to work towards a solution, but also engaging the cooperation of all levels of government. It';s very important the Commonwealth and the States work together, it';s also very important that we recognise that there are different water licensing systems in different parts of Australia and one of the things I hope we might be able to do is to have a common code throughout the country regarding water rights. That would help enormously.
JOURNALIST:
Some of the suggestions are quite expensive. Do you believe that substantial amounts of money would be needed to help this problem along?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think the greatest gains are going to be made in relation to the clarification of property rights and water rights and the more sensible use of water. As I said earlier there';s no one big single project that is going to guarantee that this country will be free of drought. It just doesn';t work that way according to the advice that we have received.
JOURNALIST:
How long before the Government bites the bullet and says okay, this is the way we';re going to head?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that implies that there';s one big single solution to it. I mean there isn';t. I mean that is a piece of mythology that there is one big single project that is going to solve the problem. As in so many of these things you have to do a series of things over a period of time to get a solution. But I think what has happened is that the challenge of water conservation and water usage has arrived on the national agenda and it is going to stay there for a very long time and in order to deal with it we need the personal involvement of the, not only the Prime Minister, but also the Premiers of the all of the States because it is a very big issue. And I';m quite certain we';ll get the cooperation of the Premiers because it';s in the whole nations interests that we do something about it.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister is a water levy inevitable?
PRIME MINISTER:
No.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think that farms should be compensated for missing out on water?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I said earlier that where somebody has a property right, and water rights are property rights, they shouldn';t lose those rights or have those rights diminished without compensation.
Thank you.
[ends]