Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Mayo for her question. I know that she is absolutely committed to seeing the Murray-Darling Basin Plan delivered in full, as we are on this side. I know this is a particular issue for South Australians. Although there has been a lot of water in the system in the last couple of years, we know that the dry years are just around the corner again. That is why it is so important, for environmental reasons, for drinking water reasons, for economic reasons, for industrial development reasons and also for agricultural reasons to make sure that we are taking a sustainable amount of water out of the Murray-Darling Basin system.

Sadly, in the last decade before the change of government, we saw the Murray-Darling Basin Plan tied up in brown tape. We had a government, in those opposite when they were sitting on this side, who did everything they possibly could to sabotage the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

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