Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for your protection, Mr Acting Deputy President. The reality is that Senator Wong is doing exactly what we need in South Australia. We need water. The purchase of Toorale Station is just the first step along the way. Labor understands that we have to provide drinking water for South Australia. We have to provide water for all those irrigators that Senator Xenophon talked about in the Riverland. We have to provide water for them and we have to try to save the Lower Lakes.

Labor has committed $3.1 billion to this process. The Liberal Party did not want to spend a zack. They were happy to spend money on advertising Work Choices, but they did not spend a zack to buy one drop of water. Labor is going to buy $3.1 billion worth and has started the process. This is the first step along the way to providing water to South Australia. Senator Joyce referred to Senator Heffernan’s claims that there had been no consultation about the sale. The truth of the matter is that the lands in the National Reserve System were assessed by officers of the Commonwealth Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts using information provided by the New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change. I think it is important to understand that the federal government is assisting in this purchase. It is actually the New South Wales government that is making the purchase. What Senator Heffernan said is not correct. There was an assessment made by the officers of the Commonwealth department.

So what are we doing at this particular station?