Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

Oh, please. This isn't a scare tactic; this is real. Go to Western Australia and talk to a Western Australian sheep producer and ask him if it's a scare campaign. It's not, mate. It's a bill that has become law, which means their business doesn't exist anymore. I don't know why those opposite hate farmers so much. You've ruled out an industry. You've rubbed it out. And while I'm talking about rubbing out food production let's talk about the Murray-Darling Basin. Those opposite want to take water from the basin, from farmers—intergenerational farmers—and take their water rights away.

The Riverland in my electorate is a highly productive horticultural zone but without water it is a desert. Those opposite are going to take the equivalent of all of South Australia's water entitlement away. In the South Australian context, many people think South Australia won't have to make a contribution. That's not true. South Australia will have to make a contribution. It is best estimated at 32 gigs. That is the size of the Renmark irrigation district. That would be like saying to every horticultural producer, every almond producer, everyone growing an orange, mandarin, an apricot, in the Renmark irrigation district, 'We are going to rub you out, just like we rubbed out West Australian sheep producers.' Those opposite can call it a scare campaign all they want. The people of Western Australia call it something else: real.

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