Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Hansard source

It was hard to follow the previous speaker's arguments in his speech, but what I think he was saying was this is not a big deal. Stealing water from the Murray-Darling that was meant to go to the environment, that the taxpayer paid for but that instead was allegedly stolen to go to irrigators is not a big deal! It's only a small issue! It's a side issue! Well, I have news for the previous speaker: this is a serious issue. On this side of the House, we take this seriously: ruining confidence in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, a plan that the member for Watson worked so hard in delivering, working hard with stakeholders and with people all around this country to deliver a once-in-a-century agreement. It is very important for South Australia and very important for confidence. To say that alleged illegal activity is not a big thing is outrageous.

But we shouldn't be surprised, because this has been the attitude of the Deputy Prime Minister, who is not in this chamber. When confronted by these serious allegations, he first said, 'Look, this isn't a big issue; it's just a localised issue.' Of course, we know that two nights later he went to the pub, and the truth came out. He said about the Four Corners report:

A couple of nights ago on Four Corners, you know what that's all about? It’s about them trying to take more water off you, trying to create a calamity.

That is the attitude and that is the truth of what this Deputy Prime Minister thinks—the Deputy Prime Minister that is in charge of the Water portfolio. He sees the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and the alleged theft of water as part of that plan as just a conspiracy theory to take water off irrigators.

Quite frankly, we know that this Deputy Prime Minister cannot be trusted with the Water portfolio. I've had that view for some time. When he did the dirty deal for Malcolm Turnbull to become Prime Minister, Barnaby demanded Water.

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