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Title

NATIONAL WATER COMMISSION BILL 2004

In Committee

Database

Senate Hansard

Date

08-12-2004

Source

Senate

Parl No.

41

Electorate

Tasmania

Interjector

 

Page

40

Party

AG

Presenter

 

Status

Final

Question No.

 

Questioner

 

Responder

 

Speaker

Brown, Sen Bob

Stage

In Committee

Type

 

Context

Bills

System Id

chamber/hansards/2004-12-08/0082


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Wednesday, 8 December 2004
Page: 40


Senator BROWN (12:34 PM) —I move the Greens' amendment:

(2) Clause 44, page 23 (lines 20 to 25), omit the clause, substitute:

44 Public availability of assessments

(1) The Minister must table the NWC assessments, advice and determinations under paragraphs 7(2)(a), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h) and (i) and (3)(a), (b) and (c) in both Houses of Parliament when they are provided to the Minister.

(2) The NWC must operate transparently and make its advice and recommendations public except where directed by the Minister, provided the direction is public.

(3) Where the Minister makes a direction in accordance with subsection (2), the direction, together with a statement of reasons for the direction, must be tabled in both Houses of the Parliament within 15 sitting days of being made.

We take the view that this is a $2 billion commission established with taxpayers' money to deal with the public good—which is the water of the nation and its rivers—and that the deliberations of this commission are on behalf of the Australian people and not the government of the day. We believe that the outcomes of this National Water Commission should be on the public record. I note that the minister said that it may be that policy advice will be sought from the NWC by the government. This bill says that this will be an independent public body. This is a commission for the people of Australia. This is not a $2 billion commission set up to give the government policy advice or to be used selectively by the government against the rest of the body politic or the people of Australia. Let us make that clear.

The Greens do not go along with the view that, because other governments are involved or because policy is being sought by the Howard government, this National Water Commission, entirely funded by the people of Australia, should be secret. It is a public independent organisation, and where it produces documents that go to the minister the minister should be obliged to table them in this parliament, the parliament of the people. Otherwise we succumb to saying that the executive is above the people and the parliament, that the parliament and the people are second, and that we will get to know what the commission is doing by leave of the government of the day. We do not accept that, so this Greens' amendment is an important one.

Question negatived.