October 29, 2004
Super Mandate
PM threatens to go it alone on
water conservation; calls for
Premiers to rejoin National
Water Initiative
Prime Minister John Howard warned the states
he would tackle Australia's water shortage
himself if they did not co-operate with the
Federal Government, according to The
Advertiser (21/10/2004, p. 5). Howard said the
Federal Government would consider its own
projects to ease the water supply crisis
gripping major cities.
Fed Govt to consider solo projects: He said
the Federal Government would consider
starting its own water conservation projects if it
could not resume co-operation with the states,
which crumbled during the election campaign
when he used state competition payments to
fund a $2 billion water plan.
Howard confident Premiers will join: But
Howard said he was confident the Labor
premiers would resume efforts on the national
water initiative. "I'm sure they will want to
cooperate with the democratically elected
government," he said. He refused to say if
federal projects would include tackling
Sydney's ocean outfalls, but said Canberra
could work with industry and local
governments. "If a state is doing something in
an area which is fitting the bill, we're not going
to duplicate that," he said.