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

During question time today the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts sought to assert that I and we on this side supported a wholesale buyout of Australian farmers’ water rights. That is false. The evidence is clear. The response to the minister’s statement was in the same transcript from which he quoted. If he had quoted the sentence which follows on from where he stopped, the answer would have been clear. I simply quote the evidence:

But the buyback was predicated on something critical and that was that there was funding for farmers to basically replumb rural Australia, to help gain the water efficiencies that were necessary, whether it's from irrigation, from pipes, from covering channels.

That money was not provided and we do not support the statement made by the minister. I seek leave to table the transcript.

Leave not granted.

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