Doorstop, Bunbury, Western Australia

STAN LIAROS, AQWEST CHAIRPERSON: I’ll start by acknowledging the custodians of the land, the Wardandi Noongar people and we pay our respects to their elders past and present. Can I also just acknowledge our guests here today, and I am very mindful of time, so I'll try and get through this as quickly as possible, but we have the Federal Minister, the Honourable Murray Watt, Minister for the Environment and Water. The Honourable Don Punch, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Water, Climate Resilience, South West and Member for Bunbury. The City of Bunbury Mayor, Jaysen Miguel. The City of Bunbury Deputy Mayor, Tresslyn Smith. We also have Gary Hallsworth, who is the Chief Executive Officer, and this is a team effort, all of Aqwest staff and contractors have put in, but Gary has been the driver of this, and I just wanted to mention that because he's done a terrific job getting it to where it is today. And can I just very quickly say it is an exciting time for Aqwest, it’s a great project, and it's one that will really make a huge difference to the long-term water needs for the region. So, having said that, I'd like to invite Minister Punch to start the proceedings. Minister Punch will say a few words on a tight timeline [laughs].

DON PUNCH, WESTERN AUSTRALIAN MINISTER FOR ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS, WATER, CLIMATE RESILIENCE, SOUTH WEST, MEMBER FOR BUNBURY:  Thank you very much, Stan, and thank you to the staff and board of Aqwest. I'd also like acknowledge the Honourable Murray Watt, who's with us today. The Federal Government has been a great partner in this $50 million project. Right around Western Australia we have the challenge of climate change and that means water is an incredibly important resource and we have to make use of every single drop that we can. This is a really exciting project for Bunbury, and I do acknowledge Mayor Jason de San Miguel is with us, because this is a project that is starting to take potentially recyclable water that currently goes out to sea on an ocean outfall, treating that to a very high standard just short of drinking water standard, then being used to irrigate our parks and gardens in Bunbury. The initial project will support recycled water for watering Hay Park sporting area which is an area of about 43 hectares. It will save 2 gigalitres of water out of our aquifers because they are currently being watered through groundwater. Saving groundwater is an important agenda for our water strategy. We're looking at options to reduce impact on groundwater. Recycling for the purpose of irrigation is a great step forward. I'm so pleased that the Federal Government has partnered with this, with $25 million towards the project. I'll now hand over to the Honourable Murray Watt. But one final comment is the team here are doing a brilliant job and they've just confirmed that we're looking at a completion by 2027, late October 2027. Thank you very much, I’ll hand over to Minister Watt.

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Thanks very much, Don. It's a real pleasure to be in your electorate at last, here in Bunbury, my first trip to Bunbury, but I know you've been standing up for this community for a very long time. Don and I first got to know each other when we were both fisheries ministers in previous lives. So, we've become good mates and it's a real great pleasure to be in your electorate today, Don. Can I think Stan, the whole team at Aqwest, all of the Councillors we have here, and in particular, the workers on this project for the fantastic work that you're doing to provide Bunbury and the region with recycled water to make sure that the regions’ water security is met into the future in the face of climate change and a growing population. As Don has mentioned, the reality is that in these parts of Western Australia we are seeing the reality of climate change in the form of drying climates, and we need to be making investments as governments to ensure that these kinds of growing regions continue to have the water supply and water security that they need for the future in the face of climate change.

You would have seen over the last couple of weeks, yet again, we've seen the Coalition federally argue about whether climate change is real. We're getting on with the job, working with the Cook Government to deliver the kind of water infrastructure that is needed for the reality of climate change, not worrying about whether it's real but actually adapting and adjusting to the reality that we all face with climate change.

This project is being funded jointly by the Albanese and Cook Governments with an investment of $25 million each. And today I can also announce some further investments in water security jointly by the Albanese and Cook Governments. Today we're also announcing over $3 million in new funding for two projects to use science and improve climate resilience and water security in regional and remote areas of Western Australia. That includes an investment of $2.7 million in the WaterSmart Wheatbelt project to improve water security in the Wheatbelt and the Great Southern regions. Also an investment of nearly $500,000 in new technology to support water supply and water security in remote Aboriginal communities in Western Australia that currently suffer from very poor water quality standards. So they're the kind of investments that we're making jointly with the Cook Government to ensure that Western Australians do have the water security that they need as part of our plan more broadly to deal with the reality of climate change. Not to pretend it's not happening, not to argue about whether net zero is necessary or not, but just to accept the science and the lived reality of Western Australians who are facing climate change. Every day we're getting on with the job of making the investments that are needed and we'll leave the political bickering to others. Happy to take any questions.

JOURNALIST: Minister, you've expressed concern that the climate bickering within the Liberal Party could impact their EPBC position. If the Coalition doesn't play ball do the Greens have you over a barrel, or are you prepared to walk away from the legislation altogether?

MURRAY WATT: I've said from the moment I took on this portfolio a few months ago that we are prepared to pass reforms to our national environment laws with either the Coalition or the Greens. We have made very clear, and I want to make it again very clear, we will be passing these reforms next week in the final sitting week of the year, and it's now up to the Coalition and the Greens to decide whether they want to be part of that or not, or whether they want to see us do a deal with the other side of politics. For those who are concerned about whether the Coalition will do a deal with us or not, they need to speak to the Coalition and remind them that it's time to focus on the needs of Australia, including environmental law reform, rather than focusing on who's going to be the next leader of the Liberal Party. We have seen nothing from the Liberal Party since the last election apart from constant infighting and jockeying to determine who is going to be the next leader of the Liberal Party. Australians want us to focus on their needs, not our own needs as politicians, so there's a really big opportunity here for the Coalition to just for one week put aside their leadership turmoil and to focus on the real benefits that will come from these reforms.

You may have seen it reported today that Western Australia is lagging the rest of the country when it comes to on time approvals under the EPBC legislation as it currently stands. So, there is every reason for the Coalition to be supporting these reforms because one of the key aims of them is to speed up the approvals processes and remove the duplication that we see between the states and the Federal Government. So, it's time for the Coalition to focus, put aside the leadership turmoil for a week and think about what Australians need and get those approval systems moving, while also, of course, protecting our environment.

JOURNALIST: So you are then prepared to cede ground to the Greens and potentially a climate trigger, knowing that that will risk your relationship and support of WA industry?

MURRAY WATT: Again, what I've said is that we are open to passing these reforms with either the Coalition or the Greens. I made clear a few weeks ago that we would not be including a climate trigger in this legislation and that is not negotiable. But it's up to the Coalition and the Greens now to think about what sort of reforms the country needs rather than their own grandstanding. The Coalition are focused on their own infighting, we've got the Greens, who have a history of blocking reform even when it's positive reform for the country. They both need a focus for the next week on making sure that we can deliver a balanced set of reforms that deliver for both the environment and for business.

JOURNALIST: Are you willing to make changes to the laws that business want to clarify the role of the EPA and to allow for appeals to stop work orders?

MURRAY WATT: Look, it's premature for me to be committing to particular amendments that we're prepared to make. But I have said for some time now that I'm a realist when it comes to getting legislation through the Senate, I recognise that we will need to make some amendments to the legislation as we've introduced it, to get it through the Senate. And so what we need from both the Coalition and the Greens is for them to come to a landing on exactly what amendments they would be seeking, and of course, we will then weigh that up. So, I'm not going to be ruling in or ruling out particular amendments, but what I will say is that we want the reforms that make it through the Parliament to deliver wins for both the environment and for business. It's not about just doing it for the environment or just doing it for business, it’s got to do both. If you go back to look at Graeme Samuel's review five years ago, that was the kind of balanced package that he put forward. He recognised that what the country needed was reforms that delivered wins for both the environment and for business. We think the Bill that we've introduced to the Parliament and has now passed the House of Representatives does that. If other people have got other ideas, they need to tell us what they are so that we can work that out over the next week.

JOURNALIST: The concerns raised by Roger Cook about multiple definitions of adverse environmental effects have they been resolved?

MURRAY WATT: So I think probably what you're specifically referring to is the point about the definition of what's an unacceptable impact on the environment. And just so you understand the background to that, currently one of the problems with the existing legislation is that it does give a minister or department power to reject a project that is “clearly unacceptable” but there's no definition of what clearly unacceptable is in the legislation and it makes it very difficult for decisionmakers to work that out, but it also undermines business certainty to understand what sort of answer they're likely to get. We are trying to fix that in this legislation by including a definition of what would be an unacceptable impact on the environment, which would mean that that project would get rejected. So, it obviously protects the environment from the worst kind of developments, but it also gives business certainty about what kind of answer they can expect for a particular project. Again, I'm not ruling in particular amendments or ruling them out. We are open to talking to the Coalition about the sort of amendments they're seeking. We're open to speaking with the Greens about the sort of amendments that they're seeking and what we want to make sure of at the end of this is that we have that balanced set of reforms that deliver for both the environment and for business. All good? Thanks all.