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

The government will be supporting this amendment to the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill 2023, and I thank the member for Indi for moving this amendment and for the constructive way in which she's engaged with me and my office on this legislation. This amendment would ensure that the independent review panel considers the effectiveness of payments made using WESA funds that are made to address any socioeconomic impacts of voluntary water purchases. It will make sure we're examining the effectiveness of any payments made to offset any detrimental social or economic impacts on the wellbeing of any community in the Murray-Darling Basin because of a voluntary water purchase.

The member for Barker, I just need to take issue: you can't just make up figures like this. There is a lot of contested modelling around this.

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