The Hon Wilson Tuckey MP Minister for Forestry and Conservation
6 July 1999
Tuckey Determined To Effectively Manage The Great Artesian Basin (Gab) Resource
The Great Artesian Basin (GAB) is an Australian treasure that is in need of improved management to ensure its long-term
value as a water resource for arid Australia, said Wilson Tuckey, Federal Minister for Forestry and Conservation.
The GAB has sustained generations of pastoralists, miners and regional towns in Queensland, New South Wales and South
Australia and we cannot afford to see that precious water run to waste or its pressurised delivery decline any further.
In the past two days, I have inspected bore rehabilitation in the GAB. I have been impressed with the bore capping and
piping that has taken place already. The momentum is building among water users in the Basin to reduce wastage.
I pay tribute to the pastoralists who have demonstrated their commitments to the conservation and wise usage of water
resources in the Basin by investing in bore capping and reticulated stock water supplies. These pastoralists are leading
the way for their fellow graziers and other water users who rely on this resource in the GAB.
As a part of this trip, I want to pay tribute to the initiative of the Great Artesian Basin Consultative Council in
preparing a Management Plan for the Basin.
The Federal Government is going to pay its part with a $31.8 million Great Artesian Basin Sustainability Initiative
announced in this year's Federal Budget.
The funds will be spread over five years and directed to accelerating works on the ground to preserve and restore
artesian water pressure in priority areas of the Basin.
The injection of Commonwealth funds, to be complemented by State and Landholder contributions, will break the back of
the task of capping the 850 or so old artesian bores in the Basin.
These bores have deteriorated to the point where their water discharge cannot be controlled and so they freely flow on
to the land surface.
The Federal Government will be looking to see its $31.8 million investment also assists in changing the way the
resource is managed in the future so that today's water wastage situation does not re-occur.
To this end, I am very impressed with the suggestion from Mr John Seccombe for Governments to look closely with
landholders and an insurance system to allow for the replacement of bore capping infrastructure as required in future
years.
With water coming from depths of 1,000 metres or more and commonly over a million years in age it would be a selfish
generation that continued to let these bores flow unchecked day and night 365 days a year.