The Honourable Wayne Swan MP, Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia, delivered the first budget for the new Labor government tonight.
The listed major new iniatives in the environmental area include:
$14 million for the ‘National Urban Water and Desalination Plan’;
$ 108 million for a ‘Solar Australia Program’; and
$ 34.8 million for a national clean coal fund.
In the lead up to the federal election last year, Labor promised $1 billion for the National Urban Water and Desalination Plan to help secure the water supplies of Australia’s major cities with centres of excellence in desalination in Perth and a centre of excellence in water recycling in Brisbane—acknowledging these cities as leaders in these respective fields.
Given the election promise, the allocation for desalination for next year is very modest.
I wrote about Labor’s proposed water policy in the March IPA Review:
http://www.ipa.org.au/publications/publisting_detail.asp?pubid=801
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.