Water Amendment (Water for the Environment Special Account) Bill 2012

The majority voted in favour of government amendments moved by Labor MP Tony Burke, the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.

The amendments remove the reference to "up to 450 gigalitres" in the bill and change it to "450 gigalitres". MP Burke explains that the amendments also "put in place a process which gives a clear line of sight to the parliament and to the public as to whether or not enough money has been set aside to achieve the 450 gigalitres". It would then be for the government to decide whether or not to put aside additional money.(Read more of MP Burke's explanation of the amendments and the subsequent debate here. )

Background to the bill

The bill(A copy of the bill, its explanatory memoranda and amendments are available here. ) was introduced to establish an Environment Special Account to fund projects that protect and restore environmental assets of the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) and protect water dependent biodiversity of the MDB.(Read more about the bill in this bills digest (696 KB).) The projects will include those that increase the available environmental water in the MDB by 450 Gigalitres.

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