Mr NAIRN(11.38 a.m.) —It really is a great pleasure to speak on behalf of the electorate of Eden-Monaro on this Natural Heritage Trust of Australia Bill. I am quite staggered that the member for Calare (Mr Andren) would refer to this as motherhood legislation. We have here an opportunity to really lock in environmental management for some time, and exactly what we are not doing is espousing some motherhood statements, which seem to occur year after year by many governments. We are actually putting it up there in legislation.

His comments on the partial sale of Telstra are very naive. We will not debate that particular legislation now, as we already have. If he thinks that the sorts of things that happen in telecommunications will continue to happen for a long time, he is showing a remarkable naivety as to where telecommunications is going.

This bill really is landmark legislation for Australia. It is landmark legislation that our opponents would never have dreamed of considering. They would never have dreamed of it, because it establishes a long-term commitment to real environmental control, not short-term, quick political fixes, which have been the hallmark of the previous Labor government.

I really do not understand why those opposite are opposing this legislation. Perhaps it is because, if they did support it, it would be an admission of their failures, their failure after 13 years in government, to properly address environmental issues in a real, sustainable way. Their methods comprised grabbing the headlines and working the media hard, all just designed to create perceptions that they were the salvation of the environment—most of it rhetoric with little substance. But, like so many areas of reform over the decades, the coalition are the ones who will make the real decisions—the landmark legislation.

Just as the Labor Party claim the high moral ground on such things as Aboriginal affairs—a matter we were recently reminded of by Mick Dodson, that it was the coalition that introduced the landmark legislation in that area and not the Labor Party—just as they try to grab those accolades, they are trying to do the same with the environment. This legislation will defy that. This legislation is a statement by the coalition that locks in environmental management for the long term.

Currently the programs that are included in this legislation have to run the gauntlet of yearly budgets. With the passage of this legislation and the partial sale of Telstra legislation, that will not be necessary any more. Let me remind the House of why we were directed towards this innovative scheme. Besides a great desire to take the yearly politics out of environmental management and to set in place a long-term strategy, we moved in this direction because of the horrendous budget situation we were left with by the previous Labor government.

It is appropriate to quickly relive those numbers. Recently I met with a group of constituents in Moruya on quite another matter not related to this. In the course of our discussions, I commented upon the budget deficit left to us and how the accumulated deficit over the last five Labor budgets was nearly $70 billion. One lady would not believe me. `No way,' she said, `that's just the line you politicians run. It couldn't be true.' Rather than argue with her, I undertook to send the detail—the facts and the figures.

I sent her a copy of page 1-24 of Budget Paper No. 1. All was there to see: budget deficits on a yearly basis, going back to 1960-61. Boy, oh, boy, do the last five budgets really stand out. Every single year since 1991-92 the deficit has been in excess of $10 billion. Let me read them: 1991-92, $11.493 billion; 1992-93, $17.032 billion; 1993-94, $17.102 billion; 1994-95, $13.221 billion; and 1995-96, $10.317 billion—giving an accumulated deficit over those five years of $69.165 billion. It is a disgraceful example of financial management. That was a treacherous budgetary path that good environmental management was to encounter on a yearly basis.

We have to change the spending regime of government, and we are doing that through the budget brought down in August. But we want to safeguard those urgent and ongoing needs of the environment—thus the Natural Heritage Trust of Australia Bill 1996.

Allow me to show how this legislation will impact on my electorate of Eden-Monaro. There are five key provisions in this bill, namely, the national vegetation initiative, the Murray-Darling 2001 project, the national land and water resources audit, the national reserve system and the coasts and clean seas initiative. Each one of these is crucial and relevant to Eden-Monaro.

Take the national vegetation initiative: $318 million will be spent over five years to support the revegetation, protection and sustainable management of remnant native vegetation. With Eden-Monaro stretching from the Snowy Mountains to the coast, including regions like the Monaro, and running from the ACT border all the way to the Victorian border, it is easy to see the benefits of these initiatives.

The Murray-Darling 2001 project will also impact on my electorate. Many people probably are not aware that enormous volumes of water are diverted from the Snowy and Murrumbidgee rivers to the Murray-Darling to sustain irrigation and water quality. People in Adelaide, South Australia, can thank the electorate of Eden-Monaro for some of the water that ends up down there so that they can have some clean water when it comes out the other end. By addressing the problems in the Murray-Darling, we will have much greater scope and flexibility with the waters controlled by the great Snowy Mountains scheme. Over five years, $163 million will be spent on this project.

The national land and water resources audit is probably the most crucial and urgent project not only for Eden-Monaro but for the whole of Australia. We are a very dry country and this has been starkly demonstrated in recent years through horrendous drought. Even the normally lush dairy country around Bega has seen drought in recent years. I would never have thought that I would see the day that dairy farmers in places like Bega and Cobargo and similar areas would have to buy feed for their stock, but that was actually the case last year.

Eden-Monaro is blessed by some magnificent country and superb rivers, but the land and water audit is long overdue. Rivers like the Clyde, the Snowy, the Murrumbidgee, the Bega and the Tuross are all under threat from a number of directions. I recently noticed just how clogged and overgrown parts of the Bega and Tuross rivers were from imported willows that are spreading right through these river systems like wildfire. Once seen as a lovely tree, the willow is now becoming an incredible environmental headache for all those who rely on those river systems.

These things will be addressed properly. Their management and control will be properly planned for as a result of this legislation. Over five years, $85 million will be allocated. Over four years, $80 million will be spent on the national reserve system to preserve Australia's biodiversity. The forests of Eden-Monaro are well known and already the greater part of them are included in a reserve system. We have to ensure that the correct areas are included in reserves and this funding will allow the correct scientific—and not political—work to be done.

The final provision in the legislation is the coasts and clean seas initiative. One of the most magnificent parts of Eden-Monaro is its coastline. Stretching from Batemans Bay all the way down to the Victorian border, it is the best kept secret in Australia. I am sure that many members of this House often spend a weekend in the middle of their sittings heading off to various spots—Batemans Bay and Merimbula—to enjoy parts of this area. I see my colleague the honourable member for Charlton (Mr Robert Brown) nodding. He obviously gets down there as well.

Places like Batemans Bay, Moruya, Tuross Heads, Narooma, Bermagui, Tathra, Merimbula, Pambula, Eden and Wonboyn are all situated along this magnificent coast. We have probably cleaner seas than many other parts of Australia and we want to keep it that way. We want the magnificent whales and dolphins that are found all the way along the coast to keep coming. In fact, I was in Eden last Sunday for the opening of the sailing season. It was a most magnificent sight as great masses of dolphins were throughout the bay as we went out and started the sailing season. That is an aspect that we really want to keep, and $100 million spent over four years will ensure the current management and make sure that we keep it that way.

This really is landmark legislation. It is innovative, it guarantees long-term management and control of our environment and of those areas under threat. Eden-Monaro will be protected under this legislation once it is put in place. It will be put in place, and I call on our opponents to put politics aside and vote for sound environmental management for the future. I can assure them that their grandchildren and beyond will thank them for it.