The National Water Commission has delivered a
damning indictment of the Labor government’s record on water reform. Perhaps the
most damning revelation is that “COAG has not yet responded to the Commission’s
recommendations in its previous biennial assessment, released in 2009.”
In its review the National Water Commission
has found that the regulation of coal seam gas developments is not being fully
integrated into water planning arrangements. The Commission notes that while the
NSW government has introduced reforms which require coal seam gas developments
to obtain water licences, Queensland’s arrangements “remain outside water
planning and management frameworks.” The Commission has found that the coal seam
gas industry could extract around 300 GL per year from groundwater systems over
the next 25 years, compared to the 540 GL per year currently extracted from the
Great Artesian Basin.
Well yet another Labor Party belly flop.
Barnaby Joyce
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