Thursday, 4 June 2026

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Health, Minister for Water) (12:22): Our population is growing and our climate is changing, and we need new water savings, smarts and sources to protect our water security. That is why this year we placed the largest ever order at our desalination plant, taking orders in total from this desalination plant, the plant that the Liberals called a white elephant and a waste of money and unnecessary, to more than 600 billion litres. Our water storages at the moment are at 47 per cent, and last year they were at 56 per cent, but this year we will see water start flowing into the Cardinia Reservoir this week to boost our storages. We are also investing in innovative solutions to unlock the benefits of stormwater and recycled water for local communities.

This week it was wonderful to join local member for St Albans Natalie Suleyman to announce a government-backed expansion of the Green Gully Reserve stormwater-harvesting system. This will help to keep this really beautiful reserve green and reduce stormwater run-off into Taylors Creek. This sits alongside the work I have been doing with the amazing member for Monbulk Daniela De Martino to announce we are backing a project to build a brand new smart wetland at Birdsland Reserve, and that will use real-time technology to smooth the flow of water across Monbulk Creek. These innovative projects are backed by our latest $24 million integrated water management grants program.

Since 2017 we have invested more than $173 million into projects across the state, saving around 1 billion litres of drinking water a year. I suspect that if given half the chance the Liberals will cut these programs, and what they want to do is build more dams. Dams do not make new water, though. When dams do hold water, they inevitably capture it from somewhere or someone else. So the question that I have is: if more dams are built, who is going to miss out on that water, and how are the Liberals proposing to pay for it, given they have already announced more than $40 billion in cuts?