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

He claims that we've reached the end of the plan, despite the fact that we predict we'll be 750 gigalitres short under the settings of those opposite—or, most incredibly, that it's this bill that is the end of bipartisanship on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. The end of bipartisanship came when those opposite decided to sabotage the plan instead of delivering it. I would say to the coalition that there is still room for bipartisanship here. Senator Birmingham, Senator Ruston, Senator McLachlan and, of course, the member for Sturt have all said that they support our plans to deliver on the water for the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. So I very much hope that those senators and the member for Sturt will vote according to the comments that they've made.

There's something in our proposal for everyone. There is more time to deliver on the water-saving infrastructure, something those opposite have called for and the National Farmers Federation have called for. There is also a guarantee on the 450 gigalitres of environmental water, something we support, something the Greens should support, something the teals support and something the member for Mayo has made a very strong case for.

We need to deliver on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. We know that we are going into another hot, dry period. Unless we deliver environmental water, water for communities, water for farmers, water for industry and drinking water for millions of people, we will rue the day. (Time expired)

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