Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

FLOODS: WATER STORAGE MONITORING
Wednesday, 1 June 2011 COUNCIL 1651
Mr Ondarchie interjected.
Mr BARBER — Mr Ondarchie, I know you are
very studious. I know Mr Ondarchie is very studious
and always well briefed. Next time he has to address
one of his branches he should check out the Rural
Water Commission report — it is in the
parliamentary library — in which the construction
costs of dams — —
Mr Ondarchie interjected.
Mr BARBER — You will wow them,
Mr Ondarchie, with the figures that you will be able to
quote from this report, because the construction cost of
every single one of those dams was assessed in relation
to the yield from that dam, as measured in acre-feet. It
would be simple to convert to megalitres.
Mr Ondarchie interjected.
Mr BARBER — No, I suspect it was treated more
as a perpetuity, in a way: spend X amount up front and
then get all this water coming out the other end. Given
the long life of dams — obviously when you build
them you are talking about 100-year lives — effectively
the discounted cash flows out at the end really are not
worth talking about, so value it any way you like, or
just use a rule of thumb if you like.
Suffice it to say, through you, Acting President, that the
original cost estimates put together by the Rural Water
Commission back then probably had a lot more rigour
around them on the basis of organisational knowledge
than anything you would get out of the department of
water these days. It is a useful reference to have, which
is why I went to check it out, why Mr Ondarchie should
check it out and why Greg Hunt and Andrew Robb
should check it out if they are at all serious about their
effort to propose more dams.
We know it is sheer tokenism. That is why in the 2006
election Mr Baillieu put forward a policy of damming a
tributary of the Maribyrnong. He did not want to get
any significant water out of a dam; he did not want to
spend any money on a dam. He just wanted to make the
point that in theory the Liberals are in favour of dams
and other people are not.
Mr Ramsay — On a point of order, Acting
President, as I understand it, Mr Barber is speaking on a
motion that is about a review of the operating rules for
water storages. For the last 5 minutes he has waffled on
about Greens policy in relation to building dams or not
building dams as well as inciting some interjection in
relation to latte drinkers who might well support dams,
to which I object. I ask you to ask him to stick to the
motion before the house.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Ms Crozier) —
Order! I advise Mr Ramsay that that is not a point of
order.
Mr BARBER — I was simply making the point,
very much within the terms of this motion, that there is
a live debate about the value of dams for flood
mitigation. Certain members of the Liberal Party at
various levels are promoting the value of dams for
flood mitigation. My motion calls on a member of the
current Liberal-Nationals coalition to conduct a review
of how our existing dams could contribute to flood
mitigation, because it is certainly the view of one
community north of the Great Dividing Range and
those downstream that it did not do that and that it was
managed in such a way that worsened the impact of the
flood on Rochester. That is a most serious concern,
given that it was put forward by a flood-affected
community. For that reason I am looking forward to
Mr Ramsay’s support of my motion as well as that of
other members of the house.
Mr RAMSAY (Western Victoria) — I say from the
outset that the government does not support the motion
moved by Mr Barber. I wish to spend some minutes
talking about why we will not support this motion.
With respect to your ruling, Acting President, in
relation to my point of order, I certainly do not see
anything in the motion that would incite discussion
about whether latte drinkers in Carlton would support
the opportunity to build more dams or not. I find those
remarks objectionable, because it is a serious issue for
all of us to decide what the appropriate water
infrastructure should be for this state for its long-term
sustainability and viability.
For the record and without stating the obvious, as
Mr Barber has already said — in fact it was one of the
few sensible things he did say — record rainfall
occurred in some parts of Victoria in January which
resulted in major flooding in the Campaspe, Loddon
and Wimmera valleys. In response to this flooding the
coalition government has already initiated a review of
the 2010–11 flood warnings and has established a
parliamentary inquiry into flood mitigation in Victoria.
In addition, Goulburn-Murray Water (GMW),
Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water and Southern
Rural Water, which all operate water storages on the
state’s regulated rivers, as Mr Barber has already said,
have initiated reviews of their storage operation
procedures to ensure that these storages provide the
maximum flood mitigation possible within the