Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Kingston for the question, which is broad ranging and allows me to deal with some of the broader issues around the Murray-Darling Basin, in particular the concept of just how bipartisan this issue has been. On 11 August, three members of the opposition released the following words:

The coalition will release a draft basin plan within two weeks of coming to office and proceed with its implementation without delay. Labor’s delays must come to an end.

The three members of the opposition who released that statement on 11 August were Senator Birmingham, Senator Joyce and the Leader of the Opposition. So, for all the criticism that we hear about the government in terms of a guide to a draft of a plan, the opposition actually were not going to wait for the final plan. The opposition were going to implement the draft without delay within two weeks. In a media release in the name of the Leader of the Opposition, which I table, they had committed to implement the draft plan.

There are three priorities that this parliament is going to have to get right in water reform. They are about having a healthy river, the importance of food production and the importance and sustainability of regional communities.

There has been a lot of misinformation over the last week, which I would like to clear up here in the chamber. There has been an argument that the guide to the draft of a plan released by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority represents government policy. It does not. There is a belief in many communities that the government will forcibly acquire water from people. We will not. There is a belief that the plan, whatever it ends up being at the end of next year, will not take account of the good work already done in many communities. It will. There is a long process to go with this reform, but there is a huge cost in doing nothing. There is not only the impact of acid sulphate soils that we have seen in the Lower Lakes, as the member for Kingston would know all too well. There is not only the impact that we have seen from an unhealthy river system over the last decade, with algae going up and down in many parts of it. There is not only the impact on 16 Ramsar-listed wetlands. But I would remind the House that in the Lower Lakes area not that many years ago there were 23 dairy operations. As salinity started to take over the Lower Lakes, the count went from 23 down to three. Let us not pretend that this is somehow a simple old-style battle of environment versus production. Everybody up and down the Murray-Darling Basin has an interest in having a healthy river system. There was a good deal more bipartisanship across the years on this issue than might have been reflected over the last couple of days. But let me remind the House that it is important and it is incumbent on this parliament to get that balance right. It is important that this parliament gets the balance right across those three issues: a healthy river system, the importance of food production and sustainable regional communities.

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