Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Give me a break! The member for New England, in the previous government, presided over some of the most destructive water policies that this country has seen for decades! Under the previous government, we have seen the Murray-Darling being starved of water. We saw the previous government put its hands in taxpayers' pockets to fund fracking—to fund the expansion of the gas industry, with all the threat that that poses to farmers and the water table.

They had a whole decade to bring in this reform that they've decided, at the last minute, is suddenly so critical. It's so critical they couldn't show it to anyone, so we could have a chance to have a look at it, to work out whether it does the thing that they're saying. It's so critical that they couldn't even be bothered circulating a paper copy of it in the chamber—the usual practice—so that people could look at it. It's so critical to them that they couldn't even be bothered coming to anyone else before this vote and saying, 'Would you mind supporting this one because it's a good idea.' It's so critical that, when the debate was happening in the Senate, they didn't even bother moving it there, where it might have had a chance of getting passed.

So give me a break! When the member for New England stands up here and, in honeyed tones, tries to convince the parliament and the nation that he somehow cares about the water table, after a decade of being the most destructive water minister, at times, that this country has ever seen, well—pardon me—I don't accept that for one minute. There might be some merit in an amendment that the Leader of the Nationals wants to approve, but when the member for New England gets up and says, in hand-wringing, unctuous tones, 'This is the best thing that ever happened,' when he never bothered to bring it to parliament over the last decade, no-one believes it for a moment.

The previous government, the coalition, had a decade to act to protect farmers. What did they do? They backed the frackers every time—every time. Every time we tried to say: 'Give farmers the right to lock the gate. Give farmers the right to protect the water table against the destructive influence of the gas industry,' the National Party, a wholly owned subsidiary of gas and coal corporations in this country, picked coal over crops. They always pick gas over farmers, every time. Now, as they see themselves dwindling further into irrelevance, they come in here with a last-minute stunt and expect people to take them seriously. Give me an absolute break! Even the member for New England can't hide a smile, because he knows it's a con that he's trying on here. He had years to do something about it and presided over the destruction of this country's water table.

We will look carefully and seriously at any amendment that actually protects water in this country, because that's what we have tried to do. We have fought the Nationals when they have backed the gas industry against farmers every single time. If they have a good suggestion, of course we're prepared to look at it. But give people time to have a look at it, come here and at least keep a straight face while you're trying to do it. You're not trying to hide the smirks that you have at the moment, after a decade of delivering for the gas industry and driving farmers into the ground. Don't come in here with a last-minute stunt and pretend you care.

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