❓ Mr Grylls asks about the progress of negotiations between WA and the Commonwealth regarding the national action plan on salinity and water, specifically the $158 million in funding. Dr Edwards responds that negotiations are progressing well and that the government is close to signing the agreement.
AnsweredQoN 934Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the Premier’s statement on 9 April on the outcomes of the Council of Australian Governments meeting, in which he said all Governments had agreed to accelerate the implementation of the national action plan on salinity and water. The Premier went on to say that Western Australia was close to finalising the negotiations with the Commonwealth. On 12 March, the Premier told the House that he hoped this matter would be finalised before the meeting of natural resource management ministers on 1 May. Can the minister inform the land care community of Western Australia how the negotiations are progressing on the signing of this agreement, which will secure $158 million of commonwealth funding; and when will the final announcement be made? Dr EDWARDS
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question and also for the timeliness of it. Negotiations are proceeding very well. Earlier this week, my chief executive officer met with senior officials from Environment Australia and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the federal agricultural agency, who had flown to this State. They had very frank and good discussions. My instruction to them on Monday afternoon, prior to these discussions, was that they get to the level in these discussions of talking about the bilateral agreements. I have been signalling strongly that I want the community to be involved in those bilateral agreements, because under the way in which the national action plan is set up, the regional groups in that part of the community have a lot of responsibility and need to be included in that process. The Government has also had discussions about the IGA and is close to signing that agreement. Earlier this week I had my office phone the federal minister’s office to ask when will we get a reply to our final letter to him at the end of February. We have been told that reply will be forthcoming after the discussions that have taken place in the past few days. I believe we are now very close to the actual signing of that agreement. Cabinet is keen to get the final issues resolved so that we can undertake that signing. In the interim, this week we have had very productive discussions with senior officers, going a step below the signing to the bilateral agreement, and teasing out what should be in the agreement and how we can work together, particularly with the regional groups, to make sure we get this up and running as quickly as possible. I am very confident of meeting that COAG deadline for the national action plan for the intergovernmental agreement and hope to have much better news shortly.
Dr EDWARDS replied: I thank the member for the question and also for the timeliness of it. Negotiations are proceeding very well. Earlier this week, my chief executive officer met with senior officials from Environment Australia and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the federal agricultural agency, who had flown to this State. They had very frank and good discussions. My instruction to them on Monday afternoon, prior to these discussions, was that they get to the level in these discussions of talking about the bilateral agreements. I have been signalling strongly that I want the community to be involved in those bilateral agreements, because under the way in which the national action plan is set up, the regional groups in that part of the community have a lot of responsibility and need to be included in that process. The Government has also had discussions about the IGA and is close to signing that agreement. Earlier this week I had my office phone the federal minister’s office to ask when will we get a reply to our final letter to him at the end of February. We have been told that reply will be forthcoming after the discussions that have taken place in the past few days. I believe we are now very close to the actual signing of that agreement. Cabinet is keen to get the final issues resolved so that we can undertake that signing. In the interim, this week we have had very productive discussions with senior officers, going a step below the signing to the bilateral agreement, and teasing out what should be in the agreement and how we can work together, particularly with the regional groups, to make sure we get this up and running as quickly as possible. I am very confident of meeting that COAG deadline for the national action plan for the intergovernmental agreement and hope to have much better news shortly.
I thank the member for the question and also for the timeliness of it. Negotiations are proceeding very well. Earlier this week, my chief executive officer met with senior officials from Environment Australia and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the federal agricultural agency, who had flown to this State. They had very frank and good discussions. My instruction to them on Monday afternoon, prior to these discussions, was that they get to the level in these discussions of talking about the bilateral agreements. I have been signalling strongly that I want the community to be involved in those bilateral agreements, because under the way in which the national action plan is set up, the regional groups in that part of the community have a lot of responsibility and need to be included in that process. The Government has also had discussions about the IGA and is close to signing that agreement. Earlier this week I had my office phone the federal minister’s office to ask when will we get a reply to our final letter to him at the end of February. We have been told that reply will be forthcoming after the discussions that have taken place in the past few days. I believe we are now very close to the actual signing of that agreement. Cabinet is keen to get the final issues resolved so that we can undertake that signing. In the interim, this week we have had very productive discussions with senior officers, going a step below the signing to the bilateral agreement, and teasing out what should be in the agreement and how we can work together, particularly with the regional groups, to make sure we get this up and running as quickly as possible. I am very confident of meeting that COAG deadline for the national action plan for the intergovernmental agreement and hope to have much better news shortly.
Dr EDWARDS replied: I thank the member for the question and also for the timeliness of it. Negotiations are proceeding very well. Earlier this week, my chief executive officer met with senior officials from Environment Australia and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the federal agricultural agency, who had flown to this State. They had very frank and good discussions. My instruction to them on Monday afternoon, prior to these discussions, was that they get to the level in these discussions of talking about the bilateral agreements. I have been signalling strongly that I want the community to be involved in those bilateral agreements, because under the way in which the national action plan is set up, the regional groups in that part of the community have a lot of responsibility and need to be included in that process. The Government has also had discussions about the IGA and is close to signing that agreement. Earlier this week I had my office phone the federal minister’s office to ask when will we get a reply to our final letter to him at the end of February. We have been told that reply will be forthcoming after the discussions that have taken place in the past few days. I believe we are now very close to the actual signing of that agreement. Cabinet is keen to get the final issues resolved so that we can undertake that signing. In the interim, this week we have had very productive discussions with senior officers, going a step below the signing to the bilateral agreement, and teasing out what should be in the agreement and how we can work together, particularly with the regional groups, to make sure we get this up and running as quickly as possible. I am very confident of meeting that COAG deadline for the national action plan for the intergovernmental agreement and hope to have much better news shortly.
I thank the member for the question and also for the timeliness of it. Negotiations are proceeding very well. Earlier this week, my chief executive officer met with senior officials from Environment Australia and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the federal agricultural agency, who had flown to this State. They had very frank and good discussions. My instruction to them on Monday afternoon, prior to these discussions, was that they get to the level in these discussions of talking about the bilateral agreements. I have been signalling strongly that I want the community to be involved in those bilateral agreements, because under the way in which the national action plan is set up, the regional groups in that part of the community have a lot of responsibility and need to be included in that process. The Government has also had discussions about the IGA and is close to signing that agreement. Earlier this week I had my office phone the federal minister’s office to ask when will we get a reply to our final letter to him at the end of February. We have been told that reply will be forthcoming after the discussions that have taken place in the past few days. I believe we are now very close to the actual signing of that agreement. Cabinet is keen to get the final issues resolved so that we can undertake that signing. In the interim, this week we have had very productive discussions with senior officers, going a step below the signing to the bilateral agreement, and teasing out what should be in the agreement and how we can work together, particularly with the regional groups, to make sure we get this up and running as quickly as possible. I am very confident of meeting that COAG deadline for the national action plan for the intergovernmental agreement and hope to have much better news shortly.
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