David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

I'm happy to do that. But we're upset. We're upset because we live in these communities. We know the people. We know them by name. These are their livelihoods that are just being ripped up by the stroke of a pen and some deal done over there with senators who live in the sanctuary of this town, who wouldn't know what the Murray-Darling Basin Plan means to the ACT. In fact, the ACT hasn't delivered any water back to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. Yet you want us to lie at the altar of political expediency? There is a human toll to this, but there is an economic toll to this as well. Every Australian will foot the bill for this, because this means that you have taken away the tools that Australian farmers need to produce the food and fibre that you enjoy. When supply goes down, prices go up. You don't need a 6,000-word essay to work that out. This is tearing at the very heart of regional and rural Australia. This is nasty, vindictive politics. That is all this is, and unfortunately regional Australia will foot the bill for it again.

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