Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this matter of public importance. I would actually be happy to move an extension of time for the Parliamentary Secretary for Water so he could tell us about those on-farm irrigation investments, because we have not seen them. We have not seen one drop of water returned to the system since this government came to office in 2007—two years ago yesterday. They were handed, on a gold plate, a plan thought through by the now Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Turnbull, the then Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, and announced in January 2007. It has not been moved on in respect of agricultural investment. It is an absolute disgrace. There is a complete lack of effort being put into that area. Instead, there is just an obsession with buybacks in the wrong part of the system—not delivering any real water. We all accept that buybacks are a part of the answer to this crisis. They were part of the plan announced in January 2007 by the then minister for the environment. But what we have seen with this government is an obsession with buybacks because that is the easy thing for them to do. They do not have to do the hard yards like saving water through on- and off-farm infrastructure investments. So it is a complete ‘F’ for failure for the Rudd government in that respect—not enough spent, not enough effort made; lots of spin, no substance. We see that all too often.

The parliamentary secretary also talked about all they are doing in relation to urban water in cities. We welcome that. We welcome such a commitment because the state Labor governments across the country have been fundamental failures in planning for the future. We have had eight long years of the Rann government in South Australia and clearly the Premier has had too much on his plate. Clearly he has been too busy; clearly he has been focused on other things. He has not been straight with the South Australian people. We know that. We have seen that all too often recently. He has not focused on this issue and therefore the federal government must come in and do something about it. It is a disgrace and on 20 March next year will see a change of government. We will see Isobel Redmond come in with real plans for recycled water. We will see Isobel Redmond come in with real plans to talk straight to the South Australian people about what she believes in and what she will do to fix the water crisis, not only in the urban centres of South Australia but also in the Murray-Darling Basin and in the Great Lower Lakes, which are in my electorate. We have seen a complete failure by the Rann government and by its Minister for Water Security, the Nationals SA member for Chaffey, who will lose her seat to Tim Whetstone next March.

We have seen from the federal government two years of failure, having had a gold-plated plan handed to them by the then minister for the environment. And we have seen eight long years of failure by the Rann government in South Australia. The two of those combined mean we have an urban water crisis in South Australia, no investment in recycling, a Murray-Darling Basin crisis and a Lower Lakes crisis—complete failure by the Labor governments. We need a change. Malcolm Turnbull, the Leader of the Opposition, said two months ago in South Australia that when he is elected Prime Minister next year he will finish the job he started. That means putting real focus on on-farm and off-farm investment which will deliver real water. There will be 200 gigalitres put back into the Menindee Lakes system alone for environmental and irrigation flows.

The Labor Party forgets that Australia still needs to grow its own food. If you buy out the farms—if you buy out all the water entitlements—you will have a situation where we do not grow our own food. That is a situation that we on this side of parliament want to avoid. It is a situation that those on the other side have not thought through, which is just so consistent with how this government goes about so many policy areas. It is disappointing to see the parliamentary secretary, who very rarely speaks on this issue in this place, raise the issue of the $10 billion water plan in negative sense. It was the most groundbreaking, well thought through plan on water that has been put to this place since Federation. It dealt with a lot of the significant issues. Unfortunately, when the Rudd government was elected it dropped the ball. It did a deal with John Brumby in Victoria and it failed to get a truly national system, and it is the lack of a national system that has caused most of the problems we face today.

It is a failure of leadership by this Prime Minister, a failure of leadership by the Minister for Water Security in South Australia, who has had other things on her plate, and a failure by the state premiers. The South Australian Premier clearly has had other things on his mind. He has not been able to focus on these issues. He has been off topic. We do not know what he has been up to but he has not been up to water. That is what he has not been up to. It is disappointing. We will hear now the defence from the member for Kingston, a good member but one who is misguided on this issue. This is the most important issue facing my electorate. (Time expired)

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