Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

The President has received a letter from Senator Fisher proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion, namely:

The failure of the Rudd Government to deliver its promise of evidence-based policy when working towards a solution for the water crisis facing communities throughout the Murray-Darling Basin, including:

(a)

its attempts to both bring water back into and distribute water from the Basin, and in particular:

(i)

the purchase of Toorale Station and foreshadowed conversion of a food and fibre producer to a national park, and

(ii)

the construction of a pipeline to take 110 gigalitres of water from the Basin to supply the city of Melbourne; and

(b)

its failure to act to better collect, store, use and re-use water.

I call upon those senators who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

I understand that informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers in today’s debate. With the concurrence of the Senate, I shall ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly.