Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Lowe is naming weeds, but I will have to get to him after the MPI. The government has made a commitment of $500 million to the Murray-Darling Basin. This is significant. The government has said it recognises that it has made a promise regarding additional water for our icon sites but that it has to get the balance right between agriculture and the environment. We recognise that it has been difficult for the states—I am being polite here—and that they have faced some obstacles. We have another $500 million on the table to get this right and to make it happen, for the benefit of everyone, by 2009. I certainly recognise that it is not just about watering the icon sites, important though that is, but about the security of water for the irrigated agriculture interests along the Murray, giving them the level of confidence they need to produce and contribute, as they have done, to our terrific record.

The government’s commitment of $9 million in the last budget for rural counselling demonstrates that we know only too well the disastrous social effects drought can have on communities. It is disappointing that in my own state of New South Wales, around Christmas, the amount of the state that was drought declared was about 40 per cent less than it is now. So much of New South Wales came out of drought, but just for a brief time. We have now slipped back into drought. The government’s commitment is still there. The drought task force is working to make our exceptional circumstances program as good as it can possibly be, and we have provided additional support for rural counselling because we know what a drought does to farming families and communities.

The Leader of the Opposition mentioned various things that I do not think were particularly relevant to the debate. A lot of argument has centred on the issues that the Labor Party has with the Liberal and National parties. I think I should comment on that as a rural Liberal. The constituents whom I represent are not interested in the squabbles that the media or the Labor Party may report on our behalf. They have no time for representatives who come here with an agenda like that. All they want to see is their representatives cooperating with each other—as we do in the coalition—and working together, as is evidenced by the strong working relationship I have with the member for Mallee and the member for Riverina. When we talk, we do not talk about these issues. We talk about the industries we share that reside in our areas and that matter to all of us as rural members. That is the only basis on which our constituents should vote for us. Maybe some of my constituents do not realise I am a Liberal and not a National. The same thing could be said elsewhere. It is not the No. 1 issue. The No. 1 issue is who you are and how you do your job. (Time expired)

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