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

I am aware of this allegation. It was contained in a document prepared by the management team of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission and sent to partner governments in the current commission arrangement. After it appeared in the papers this morning, it was trumpeted by the member for Grayndler, the member for Lilley and the member for Melbourne. If that was the trumpeting, and that is the history, I can inform the House that the allegation is completely incorrect. I can also inform the House that this has been acknowledged by the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, which, shortly before question time, issued a statement saying:

This document contains—

referring to the document issued last night—

a statement that “the available budget for a new Commission will be decreased by approximately $900 million over 10 years”. I am now aware that this statement is incorrect.

That has been issued under the name of Wendy Craik, the chief executive of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission.

This little incident illustrates the two faces of the Leader of the Opposition. When I announced my plan, the Leader of the Opposition said, ‘I want to take politics out of water.’ He said: ‘I want to end the blame game. I want to cooperate with the Prime Minister.’

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