Fran Bailey (McEwen, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. Will the minister explain how diverting 75 billion litres of water annually from the Goulburn River, a vital part of the already stressed Murray-Darling system, and the construction of a pipeline that will destroy farmland, protected areas of state forest and hundreds of hectares of pristine habitat for native species of both flora and fauna is good for the environment? Minister, when will you be prepared to meet with the hundreds of people whose livelihood depends on this water?

Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question. The decision by the Commonwealth to approve the Sugarloaf pipeline was taken on the basis that there would be no significant impacts on matters of national environmental significance and that there would be no allocations from water which was identified as being allocated for the environment, including the Living Murray system and Water for Rivers. Those conditions were made quite clear by me—

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Government Member:

She doesn’t understand.

Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member does not understand. Those conditions were made quite clear by me when I made that approval. I make the point, through you, Mr Speaker, that it beggars belief that opposition members would get up and talk about their concerns for water and the environment. I am referring to the opposition’s extraordinary track record of neglect, when in government, in its exercising of national leadership over the issue of the water health of the Murray-Darling Basin. It is a fact.

Fran Bailey (McEwen, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Although this man has absolutely no credibility on the environment, I do ask that you bring him back to the question.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I remind the member for McEwen that, when invited to put a point of order, she should put a point of order and not make comments. The minister will respond to the question.

Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Coming from an opposition member who wanted to put green shadecloth over the Great Barrier Reef, I think questions of credibility need to be—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The minister will return to the question.

Fran Bailey (McEwen, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: I have been grievously misquoted.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will resume her seat. The member has other opportunities if she feels so aggrieved. I have a little difficulty in saying that the part of the debate which was not necessary to the answer to the question was unparliamentary. I am suggesting to the member for McEwen that, if she is aggrieved, there are other mechanisms for her to put her case on record.

Fran Bailey (McEwen, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will take those measures but I have asked for the minister to withdraw.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Those on my left are not assisting.

Martin Ferguson (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Resources and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Martin Ferguson interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Minister for Tourism is definitely not assisting. I am indicating that, on this occasion, I think this is a regrettable example of the robustness of the debate and that the course of action that I have suggested to the member for McEwen best suits this incident. The minister will now return to the question before him.

Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As the member should know, we have laid down a set of significant conditions to ensure that matters of national environmental significance are considered and that no derogation from water identified as going to environmental flows will happen as a result of this project. That is our responsibility, and we have exercised it diligently. I just add, through you, Mr Speaker, that this government is showing specific and particular commitments and recognising the seriousness of the issue in the Murray-Darling Basin. Only a number of days ago, we made a significant commitment to Toorale Station, which would provide waters coming back in to the river system from their allocations, and also to lands under the National Reserve System. The fact of the matter is that the opposition had some 12 years to take serious action in relation to water health in the Murray-Darling Basin; in the nine months that the Rudd Labor government have been here, we have been starting to deliver on bringing water health back into the system.