Dana Wortley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of answers provided today by government ministers. The Rudd government are acting now on climate change because it is a responsible thing to do. We need to act now for Australia’s long-term future, for our children’s future and to protect our economic security. The government are not sitting back with our feet up, nor are we turning our backs on a crisis, denying its existence, like many of those opposite did. The Rudd government are preparing for the challenges of the future by tackling climate change and securing our water supplies. Australians know that acting now on climate change is the responsible thing to do. Years of inaction by those opposite have put us in a crisis situation; we cannot afford to waste any more time.

The situation we face in the Murray-Darling Basin demonstrates clearly that any further delay on climate change is not an option. For nearly 12 years those opposite failed to prepare Australia for the tough challenges of the future. Today, we are confronting the problem of historic overallocation compounded by more than 10 years of drought, and a future where there will be less water in the Murray-Darling Basin as a result of climate change. Those opposite spent nearly 12 years denying climate change; nearly 12 years of inaction.

Unfortunately, this means that there is not enough water in the system right now to do everything that we would like to do. The needs of people reliant on the Murray for drinking water, irrigators and the environment are all in direct competition for the limited water available in the basin. In the short term, the critical water needs of people reliant on the Murray for drinking water must come first, and they include the residents of Adelaide. We are the first federal government to purchase water entitlements. We are investing $3.1 billion to do this. By using a suite of measures to purchase water entitlements now, we are ensuring that rivers get a greater share of water when it does rain. We are also investing $4.8 billion to make irrigation more efficient by reducing the amount of water lost through outdated, leaky infrastructure. This will make the nation’s food bowl more resilient to climate change by allowing us to use less water to grow food and fibre.

Reduced water availability caused by climate change means we need to be able to trade water to where it will provide the most benefit. The new independent Murray-Darling Basin Authority will put in place a much better system for managing the basin by delivering in the national interest. We need to look to the future, and that is what the Rudd Labor government is doing. We are acting now for Australia’s long-term future. We are preparing Australia for a stronger future. We are a government committed to nation building, making sure our economy emerges in strong shape from these tough international times so that we can provide jobs and security for working families into the future.

When this government was elected we inherited inflation running at a 16-year high. We inherited a record, from those opposite, of 10 interest rate rises in a row. We inherited families struggling to make ends meet. Ask them about the cumulative impact of 10 interest rate rises in a row. At the point the Rudd government took over, those interest rates were the second highest in the developed world. Inflation running at a 16-year high, 10 interest rate rises in a row and the second highest interest rates in the developed world: simply put, those are economic conditions that the government inherited from those who sit opposite.

The Rudd government is providing a secure future, making sure our economy emerges in strong shape from these difficult global economic times, providing quality jobs and security for families. Scrapping the Liberal’s unfair Work Choices laws— (Time expired)