John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for New England for his question. What has happened in relation to those groundwater entitlements is that the federal government has provided money under the general umbrella of structural adjustment. The actual compensation is something that falls upon the withdrawing level of government, and the withdrawing level of government, as the member will know, is the state government. At the moment, the negotiation that is taking place is about the taxation status of the payments. There is no argument about the willingness of the federal government to help in structural adjustment. The argument is that—

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