Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Urban Water) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to raise before the House the urgent need for action in relation to the Murray River. I want to set out two elements: firstly, the problem and, secondly, the solution. The problem is clear. After 88 days in office the new Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong, has had one meeting with the Victorian Premier. This issue is real; it is important; it has an impact on lives. Those throughout the Murray-Darling Basin and in particular those in South Australia and near Adelaide suffer extraordinarily from any inaction in relation to the adequate and fair provision of water resulting from the flows of the Murray. In 88 days there has been one meeting: this is a symbol of powerful inaction.

We need action in response to that. The previous government set out a National Water Initiative. We pulled together the states, but for political reasons Victoria held out. This was an act of political thuggery which has very little parallel over the last 100 years. In order to make sure that there was not an agreement before the election, the Victorian government held out. There are real consequences for farmers, for people and for the environment. So the message now is absolutely clear: there must be an agreement in which the Victorian government—and I say this as a Victorian—gets to the table, agrees on a fair distribution, agrees on steps forward and agrees that it is part of the Australian Federation and that it has a responsibility to help with the distribution, the balance and the saving of water from the Murray.

The message to the Prime Minister is very simple: your minister is not doing the job. You were elected as a government to do a number of things, one of which was to ensure that Australians had fair and adequate water supply. That is not happening. It is a signature failure in the first three months of this government that something as significant, something as important, something as timely and something as urgent as this has simply not been acted upon. So at this point, at this moment, at this time, the Prime Minister has to step in because his minister has failed.

We need the Prime Minister to get the states together now—not to be engaged in some long industry working group—because there are farmers who are suffering in the Murray-Darling Basin, the Adelaide water supply is at serious risk and the Coorong is in an extraordinarily bad state. This is the time and the moment when we need prime ministerial intervention because the minister is failing. The Murray River needs an agreement and it needs it now. I urge the Prime Minister to step in today. (Time expired)

See this speech in context