Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Better than Tasmania, those in the Riverina, but they should be protected. There is concern shared by growers across Australia. AUSVEG, the national peak industry body that represents the best interests of potato growers, believes the assessment of risk on the import of fresh potatoes for processing is seriously flawed and should be rejected.

Also of vital importance to Riverina's agriculture is a sensible Murray-Darling Basin Plan. The plan will come before parliament soon. This morning, the water minister introduced amendments in the House to the Water Act. Of the $5.8 billion set aside under the Water Act for works and measures—water savings infrastructure, which if spent properly will retain more than enough water for the environment—$3.3 billion was allocated to the states. Part of New South Wales's share is yet to be apportioned. A former member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, Rick Bull, is coordinating the delivery of the Water for Rivers program, an excellent initiative. He was in parliament today. I spoke to him as did the shadow water minister, Senator Barnaby Joyce. Water for Rivers is working in partnership with State Water and the New South Wales Department of Water and Energy to establish the Murrumbidgee River as the world's most efficiently managed and operated working river system. The group says it will save, retrieve, keep, maintain—call it what you like—as much as 500 megalitres which will go into the sustainable diversion limit box. That has to be a good measure. It would form part of the money set aside. It would not be taking productive water out of the system. The Murrumbidgee River is the lifeblood for those wonderful farmers of the Riverina district. I commend the Water for Rivers program to the minister for water and I commend it to the House. I hope that Tony Burke takes this in good faith and implements what Rick Bull is trying to do.

See this speech in context