Senator JOYCE—There has obviously been a lot of conjecture lately about Cubby Station. To your knowledge, what percentage of the Murray-Darling Basin do they use? Do you have any sort of figure that comes to mind?

Mr Slatyer—No. Earlier in the day I might have been able to answer that. I just cannot remember the specific numbers. But I could take it on notice.

Senator JOYCE—Luckily I do.
Mr Slatyer—I won’t take it on notice if you know the answer, Senator.

Senator Ian Campbell—I assure you that Tony would know at most times of the day. He could probably tell you the figures for just about every river in Australia.

Senator JOYCE—The evaporation of the Menindee storage lakes has come up as an issue of concern. What is your knowledge of it? How much in an average year evaporates from the Menindee storage lakes?

Mr Slatyer—I do not know the answer to that in megalitre terms either.

Senator JOYCE—I think it is about 450,000 megalitres a year.

Senator Ian Campbell—Why don’t you come over here, Senator Joyce, and we will go over there!

Senator JOYCE—More evaporates from the Menindee storage lakes each year than actually is ever used on Cubby Station in its best year. Is there any plan in mind, if you want to get water back into the river, to actually get a more effective cell mechanism working for the Menindee storage lakes and getting away from this proposition we use? There is about 400,000 megalitres or something in the Menindee storage lakes.

Mr Slatyer—We are aware of proposals that are under consideration by the New South Wales government for reducing evaporation losses in the Menindee lakes system.

Senator JOYCE—Would it be fair to say that with a better structured Menindee storage lakes you will have a lot better chance of getting water into the lower end of the river, such as in South Australia and in the lower end of New South Wales, than you ever would out of any basically minor manipulation of the river in Queensland?
Mr Slatyer—That would be a hydrological fact. To the extent that water saved from the Menindee system would be closer to the areas of interest in the Murray River, that would have a more direct impact than savings up in the Cubby. It would depend on just what objective you were trying to serve. If you were trying to move water—

Senator JOYCE—They only use about 10,000 megalitres at Broken Hill. For that, it is about 400,000 megalitres of water they need to store, which is kind of ridiculous because it is a shallow-level storage. Are there any moves planned to get a better mechanism for getting the structure that is there at the moment to work better?

Mr Slatyer—As I said, we are aware of proposals that are under consideration in New South Wales for improving the operation of the Menindee Lakes system. There are a couple of different proposals that we are aware exist. But they are decisions in the first instance for the New South Wales government.

Senator JOYCE—Would it be fair to say that in any sort of flood, depending on variance in the condition of the land prior to it, the capacity of a floodplain to absorb water changes, whether it is wet or dry? Does the absorption rate of floodplains change?

Mr Slatyer—I am not a scientist, but that would seem logical.

Senator JOYCE—So statements that might be made in some quarters comparing one flood to another flood are like those comparing apples with pears. They are completely different. It depends entirely on the rainfall and the conditions prior to it. If we are dealing with the health of a river, you have to look at a whole variety of factors rather than say that this flood will be exactly the same as the next flood. That is all I wanted to get onto the record. I think it is worthy of debate that there is a lot that can be done with the Murray-Darling Basin. Who owns the Menindee storage lakes?

Mr Slatyer—The Menindee storage lakes are New South Wales property, though there are arrangements whereby some of those lakes, of course, are being used for private purposes. I am not sure. I cannot answer the details of the ownership question.

Senator JOYCE—So the New South Wales government is possibly one of the most inefficient users of water in the whole system?

Mr Slatyer—I can take that on notice if you do not know the answer.

Senator JOYCE—Thanks.