OPENING REMARKS | BARWON WATER BLACK ROCK FACILITY ANNOUCEMENT

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Sean, and can I also start by thanking Karina for her Welcome to Country. Great to be here with Libby. Libby and I, our regions really share Barwon Water. We could probably define the geography of Barwon Water. So this has always been a fundamentally important facility for us. And Kristy, it’s great to have you here, as all three of us are regional MPs, and we know the work that you do as the Minister for Regional Development in giving expression to the really important story of regional Australia, which is just as important as the stories of people living in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. And you’re doing a fantastic job in relation to that.

This is a really exciting announcement that we are making today. The thing that I guess I would really say is the role that Barwon Water has played over so many years, h as a leader in the treatment of waste, but also in its recycling. We’ve seen that in terms of the way, 20 years ago, Barwon Water was doing so much in terms of seeing recycled water being used throughout our local economy. I can remember the facility, which is now Viva, which took the refinery off the water grid at that time, again, a ground-breaking development which was really important in terms of recycling water there.

What we are doing today is actually inspecting a pilot project in respect of biochar, which has been around for some time, and really putting it at scale, which, again, is so exciting because we’ve been talking about the prospect of this for some time and, again, that is Barwon Water leading the way. I think Sean said it right. One of the magical parts of our region is that there is such a good relationship between the various organisations which allow a project of this kind to occur, and so we are really pleased to be playing our part in that. And I guess that’s probably the place to finish it, in the sense that, you know, for Libby and Kristy and myself, we get to be at moments like this, which is important, we get to direct traffic. But really, at the end of the day, this is your achievement, and it’s the achievement not just of you, but of the organisations who are here. The councils, acknowledge mayors. What the councils are doing, what Barwon Water is doing, is fantastic, and this is really your achievement today. And just a massive congratulations.

ENDS