ABC Western Plains interview with Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek

SUBJECTS: Murray–Darling Basin, Dubbo, Water Supply.

NIC HEALEY, HOST: Now, Tanya Plibersek, Minister for Environment and Water, is coming to Dubbo today. Going to be meeting with some community representatives. She’s flying out now and joins me on the phone. Minister, good morning to you

TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Good morning. Great to talk to you.

HEALEY: I understand you’re at the airport now flying very, very soon. What is the plan when you arrive in Dubbo? What are you actually coming in to town for?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I’m actually in St George in Queensland this morning at the airport about to hop on the plane, and I’m really looking forward to coming to Dubbo. I’m going to meet with the Alliance of Western Councils and then after that with a bunch of other stakeholders, local farmers, environmentalists, traditional owners and others. I’m here talking as well – I will be in Dubbo talking about water for the most part. I’m the Minister for Environment and Water and while I know it’s raining at the moment, over the years we’ve got some really significant water challenges, and I want to hear from the local community about how the Murray–Darling Basin Plan has affected them and what they see as solutions to make sure that we can meet all our water needs across western New South Wales.

HEALEY: Minister, I know just earlier this month releasing the State of the Environment Report you said you were gobsmacked at the dismal progress in the Murray–Darling Basin. Clearly, this is going to be something you are focusing a lot of attention on.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, I mean, look, the plan has been there for 10 years. We’ve made good progress in some areas, but there’s a lot that still needs to be done; and one of the things we know for sure about Australia is that even though it’s not a dry period at the moment, we know that we’ll have other dry periods in the future and during those dry periods we have to keep our rivers going. 

We have to make sure that we’re protecting our wildlife, that there will be a stock of wildlife there to recover when the rain starts again. We need to make sure we’re meeting the needs of our community. We’re still trucking water into some communities in parts of Australia today. We need to make sure that we’re protecting our food and fibre industries. Across the Murray–Darling Basin, we’re talking about $22 billion worth of food and fibre produced every year and $11 billion worth of tourism, and a lot of jobs rely on our river systems flowing well and, you know, we’ve got to meet that challenge.

HEALEY: As you said, there’s a lot of focus on flooding at the moment. It’s raining where you are. It’s raining where I am right now. We’ve been talking all this week about the terrible state of roads courtesy of the flooding but we know that the next drought is not that far away. It’s always not that far away. It can be quite difficult to take that perspective and make sure that work is being done on drought-proofing for the future. It sounds like you are hoping to make that a key element of your portfolio.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, absolutely, and it is making sure that the river system is as healthy as it can be. We know it’s not always going to rain and we’ve just come off the back of a very long period of drought that was devastating for local communities, obviously, and to the environment as well. 

We need to be thinking ahead about how we cope with that next time, and talking to people, you know, in towns like Dubbo about their experiences and what we’ve got to learn from them is a really important part of planning for the future, but we’re also investing in upgrading our science, thinking about how climate change going to affect rainfall patterns longer term, what does that mean, how do we need to change our water usage to take account of that. And I think there’s a lot of knowledge and a lot of willingness in the communities I’ve been visiting to share their experiences and their ideas and how we can make sure that we’ve got water for all of the uses we need it for in the future.

HEALEY: Minister, you mentioned you will be meeting with First Nations representatives and traditional custodians. It seems like you are looking to make sure that culturally appropriate practices are part of water management under your stewardship.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, I mean, the previous Government set aside $40 million for what they call cultural water, so working with First Nations Australians to make sure that there’s water there to feed the billabongs that are the fish and bird breeding grounds, to make sure that marshes and other really significant areas are there for cultural use as well as for the environment. Not a dollar of that $40 million that was set aside has been spent. So, Linda Burney, my colleague, who’s the Minister for Aboriginal Australians, and I will be working really closely to make sure that that works. 

And one of the exciting things about today’s trip is I will be coming over the Macquarie Marshes and Narran Lakes, because I’m starting in Queensland this morning, and looking at those incredible natural areas and the importance they provide for fish and bird breeding and other, you know, really important environmental purposes, thinking about how we can protect some of that in the future is really important as well.

HEALEY: Forty million dollars is quite a war chest. I look forward to seeing what we can do with that. Before I let you go, I do have to note that the previous Water Minister was often quite hard to get a hold of to get him to speak publicly on water issues in regional New South Wales. Are you hoping for some transparency in your portfolio?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Look, it is one of the things I’ve said to the Murray–Darling Basin Authority and to my department; we need to talk with communities about our water challenges. That means more transparency. It means more transparency for modelling and our planning. I go back to this: everywhere I go, people come to me with really great insights and good ideas on how we can do this better. The best solutions come from the people who are living it and that’s why we need to be as transparent as possible and have these conversations often and, you know, as close to affected communities as possible.

HEALEY: Minister, appreciate your time this morning. Have a safe flight. Enjoy your time in Dubbo.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Thanks so much.

HEALEY: Tanya Plibersek is the Minister for Environment and Water, travelling to Dubbo today where she will be meeting with a range of stakeholders, talking about her portfolio.