With: Leader of The Nationals Matt Canavan, Nationals’ Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Senator Bridget McKenzie, Shadow Assistant Minister for Productivity and Regulation Senator Maria Kovacic, Senator Ross Cadell, State Member for Cootamundra and Shadow Minister for Water and Crown Lands Steph Cooke, Nationals’ candidate for Farrer Brad Robertson, Liberal candidate for Farrer Raissa Butkowski, Mayor Neville Kschenka OAM
Subject: $16 million commitment for Narrandera Water Treatment Plant
JOURNALIST
All right, Neville, just like always, just your first and last name for me and the title.
NEVILLE KSCHENKA
Neville Kschenka, Mayor of Narrandera Shire.
JOURNALIST
Okay. Give me your welcoming speech, Neville.
NEVILLE KSCHENKA
Uh, yes. Well, look, as you know, the major issue in Narrandera over the last few years has been our town water. So we’re very privileged to have Matt Canavan and a wonderful team of political leaders here today, in support of our advocacy for fixing our town water. A filtration plant is what we need. We don’t actually have a filtration plant at the moment.
And, so that’s what we need and, and we’re so privileged to have all these, leaders here today to support us. So thank you.
JOURNALIST
So why have you been pushing so hard for this?
NEVILLE KSCHENKA
Well, it’s because our residents are very concerned. They’re concerned about the colour of the water. We have had one boil water alert, the water is not good. It’s not a good taste, and obviously the look of it is affecting people’s concerns about, you know, how, how it might affect their health. But also, you know, you do a load of washing and it comes out brown, and then it has to be treated again and again.
It’s just for a regional town like Narrandera, it’s just not good enough. And so, residents are continually asking us, “What can we do about it?” Well, what we need is, quite frankly, about $32 million dollars, and our rate payers just can’t afford that. So we’re looking for support from, both levels of government to assist us in gaining that funding so that we can have a water treatment plant in Narrandera.
MATT CANAVAN
All right. Thanks, Neville. I’ll just welcome everyone else, I suppose, quickly.
You’re all right? You’re all right with height?
Okay. Thanks, thanks everybody for coming in. Thank you, Neville, for both raising this issue and welcoming us to your beautiful town. I just want to introduce all of my colleagues here. We’ve got, Michael McCormack, the Shadow Minister for Water, Maria Kovacic, New South Wales Senator. I’ve got other senator colleagues, Bridget McKenzie and Ross Cadell, the Leader of the Nationals in the Senate, Bridget. We’ve got Brad Robertson, The Nationals candidate for Farrer, and Raissa Butkowski, our Liberal candidate. This is what you call a full court political press.
We are going to fix this issue because this is absolutely unacceptable. Water like this in our country is just not cricket. We should not have country towns like Narrandera having to put up, with water quality like this. And so that’s why when Steph Cooke, and I forgot to mention Steph, actually. Because I want to thank Steph Cooke. When she raised this with me, at first I thought, “Look, Steph, this is a state issue. Can’t your government in Sydney, your Labor government in Sydney, fix it?” But when I saw this, I thought, “We can’t let this happen in our country.” So I was happy to go away and fight, for a solution, here as the new Leader of The Nationals Party, with my colleague, Angus Taylor.
And to give credit to Angus as well for seeing this. I took this water bottle into Shadow Cabinet, into the parliament, into the party room, and just pushed the case for locals here in Narrandera, and I’m glad we’re making progress here. It’s a step towards a solution, and we’re going to keep up this fight. We’re going to keep up this full court political press to make sure that people of Narrandera can have clean drinking water. I’ll ask Michael to go through the details of what we’re announcing today, and then everyone else will probably speak as well. Strap in.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Narrandera is a great town. It is the gateway to what was once called the Riverina, and it still is called the Riverina, it’s now just in the Farrer electorate. And, I am the Shadow Water Minister with Steph Cooke, who represents this area as the member for Cootamundra, but also as the Shadow Minister for Water and Crown Lands in Macquarie Street, we’ve got two people, two local people here who understand what Neville Kschenka, the Mayor, and moreover, the town’s people of Narrandera have endured and shouldn’t have had to endure, but certainly so for the past three years, when the floods of 2022 contaminated the aquifer.
Now, the general manager here says this is third world water, and I think he’s probably being generous. Shane Wilson, the deputy general manager, understands well the issue because he’s getting people coming in and complaining about it all of the time, and it’s simply not good enough. I mean, you look at that and it is third world water, and in 2026 you shouldn’t have to put up with that. Now, I’ve been working with Steph and with Brad and with Raissa to ensure that we put this at the top of the political agenda, certainly in Canberra, and I know Steph and I will work together.
She will work as doggedly hard as she always does, earnestly to make sure that the state government fixes this problem in conjunction with Canberra. And what, I have put through the Expenditure Review Committee at a Shadow Cabinet, with Matt Canavan, with Angus Taylor, is a $16 million dollar pledge under the National Water Grid Fund, which I established when I was the Deputy Prime Minister, to ensure that we fix this issue, because this is what The Liberals and the Nationals do. We build, we deliver, we turn up, we see the issues, we listen to people, and we fix the issues.
Now, this has certainly become an issue that’s been exacerbated since those floods of 22. But irrespective of that, water quality is something which people should just take for granted. They shouldn’t have to endure water like this. They shouldn’t have to put up with-drinking it, let alone putting their babies in bath water of this colour, let alone having to wash their clothes in it. So $16 million dollars, we’ll work with the state and with the Narrandera Shire Council, to make sure that we get the $30 to $32 million dollars that it’s going to cost for a new water treatment plant.
A water treatment plant which is long overdue. A water treatment plant which will make the quality of the water in Narrandera and surrounds pristine, as it should be. And, this is an issue which, we have listened to people, we have heard their concerns, and we’ve addressed it, by way of that $16 million dollar promise through the National Water Grid Fund. And, certainly, I know Brad and Raissa, irrespective, of either of them who might win this Farrer electorate, and, we certainly hope one of them will, this by-election is so important.
But, this is something that we’re committed to. This is something that we will absolutely, as the Coalition always does, we build, we deliver, and we fix people’s issues. So I’ll hand over to Maria, and she can have some more to say about it.
MARIA KOVACIC
Thank you. Thank you everyone, and in particular to Matt Canavan, the Leader of The Nationals, to Bridget McKenzie, the Leader of the Nationals in the Senate, and, Michael McCormack, our Shadow Water Minister. We are here together as a Coalition because as Michael has said, we know that we can deliver for this community. We are here today supporting Raissa and Brad because we know with either one of them as the member for Farrer, that you will get an outcome for this community. It is just not good enough that people in Narrandera are having to drink, wash, clean, and cook in brown water.
That is unacceptable, and this isn’t something that’s been happening for a matter of weeks or months, it’s been years. And we are here to say that if we are re-elected at the next federal election, and when you elect either Raissa or Brad in the Farrer by-election, that we are committed to restoring clean drinking water here. And with that, I would like to hand over to our Liberal candidate, Raissa Butkowski.
RAISSA BUTKOWSKI
Thanks everybody. So yes, I am here as the Liberal candidate, but I am also a councillor at Albury City, and we are also the water distributor for our LGA. So I can personally attest to, to the importance of water quality, not only just for health of people, but also for quality of life. The people of Narrandera shouldn’t have to pay twice for their water, once through their water usage charges, and then again via the bottled water, for example, bathe children, or for filters on all of their taps. So obviously very happy to be here, to be a part of this joint press conference, um, making the announcement.
Thank you very much.
BRAD ROBERTSON
Yeah, Brad Robinson, The Nationals candidate for the upcoming, Farrer by-election. A couple of weeks ago when I was here and ww were shown the bottled water, it was very clear that, it wasn’t clear enough for the local people. I’ve lived in India, and I never saw water that colour coming out of the taps.
And that’s unacceptable for anyone. And if it was city, it would be front page of every newspaper in Australia.
It’s not, it’s out here, and as a result, it’s on the back pages. So having 70 members of the Coalition, the National-Liberal Coalition, standing in Canberra and saying, “This is not okay,” and you know, Steph has been an absolute champion on this issue. Ever since she has been elected, ever since those floods, she knows that this is a concern for this community, and we need to address it as a matter of urgency. The fact that people are not well in this community, we don’t know for sure exactly what the reasons are, but I can tell you, if you drink that water for too long, I suggest you’ll be unwell.
And it definitely has a smell about it. And we all know that those types of senses can turn you off the ability to drink water, and think about your children, all right? Trying to get them to drink water from a tap.
Look at the businesses that have to get triple filtered water so they could sell products into the community. All of those expenses come back and put pressure back on our communities in regional rural Australia, and they’re already under enough pressure. This community here has given so much to Australia in terms of the amount of food and fibre that is produced here, and the people themselves. We met a man here who’s almost a hundred, and he’s a veteran, all right? All of our communities, we’re working up to Anzac Day, all of our communities suffered during that period of time because the biggest number of people who actually put their hands up came from the country areas.
It’s time for our nation to give back. So this is one way of doing it, and I thank, the National-Liberal Coalition for actually standing up at the federal level and saying, “We’re going to put our hand in our pockets.” Now it’s up to Labor at the state level, and hopefully even at the federal level before the next election, to put their hand in their pocket and fix this problem.
And I’ll hand over to Steph Cooke, who, honestly, she has been the loudest voice when it comes to this.
There you go. Yep. Well done, Steph.
STEPH COOKE
Well, good morning, and it’s great to be here this morning. Today, this is a milestone in our journey to achieve clean drinking water for the people of Narrandera. For the past three and a half years since the 2022 floods, two issues have dominated this community. The first one is their storm water, the second one is their clean drinking water. Council and I have worked doggedly on both issues simultaneously. We’ve got $16 million dollars to fix the storm water issues here in Narrandera.
We’ve secured one point six million dollars to ensure that the business case for the new water treatment plant is conducted.
Now we are at a critical moment where we need to secure the $30 to $32 million dollars to build this plant that this community so desperately needs.
Today is an important day because we have a federal Coalition who has stepped up to the plate. They are the first government or political party to do so, to say, “We know that there is a significant problem here in Narrandera, and we are prepared to lead. We are prepared to say we will go halfway to funding these costs.” And I am so grateful to Matt Canavan, to Michael McCormack, to The Nationals, and to our Coalition partners for coming to the party and acknowledging that we have a problem and that they are prepared to put money on the table to fix it.
And so I’m so excited about today. Narrandera Council have worked so hard on this proposal, and I really want to acknowledge the journey that they have been on over the past three and a half years.
I will continue to stand with the community, and now it’s over to other political parties. It’s over to the state government and to Federal Labor to step up and make sure that this community doesn’t have to put up with this any longer. So thank you so much, guys. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming here when we asked. You are the first people to have come here in person and seen what we are facing here. We haven’t seen the Federal Water Minister.
We haven’t seen Prime Minister Albanese. We haven’t seen the New South Wales minister, Rose Jackson, and we saw Premier Chris Minns and tried to get him to have a look at this problem, and he had better things to do. So this is now a line in the sand, enough is enough. We have $16 million dollars pledged for this project, and it’s now important that other parties follow suit, and that the New South Wales Government step up to the table, fund their proportion, and also, in the meantime, fund the temporary measures that we have been calling now for over eighteen months, a temporary water treatment plant to deal with this in the interim until the permanent one is dealt is built, and to also provide two million dollars for council to flush their mains to relieve the issues that are happening in our streets every single day. It’s a good day to be here.
Thank you. Thank you.
BRIDGET McKENZIE
And I’ll just bring it home, Bridget McKenzie, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Regional Development, Local Government, Transport. This is Narrandera’s drinking water. And thanks, Polly, for sending me a container of this that I took to the Australian Senate. Six hundred and eighty thousand Australians have viewed that speech, and they’re appalled.
We’re not on some world vision mission today in some third world country wanting to set up a water treatment plant. We’re in the regional city of Narrandera, expecting Australian citizens to be drinking clean water, not this kind of water. It’s an absolute indictment on both the Federal Labor government and State Labor government, and what you’ve seen today is what parties of government do. State Shadow Water Minister, Federal Shadow Water Minister coming together with a solution for this community.
You’re going to hear a lot of promises made by independents, by minor parties who never sit around the cabinet table, but this is what a team looks like, and a team that really wants to deliver for communities like Narrandera. We’ve made the commitment. We don’t think this is good enough, and we’re going to do something about it.