Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I did promise myself that I would try not to politicise this debate this afternoon in my 10 minutes, but I have let myself down because I am going to have to respond to Senator Macdonald’s absurd attack on Sir Rod Eddington. Fair dinkum! Talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel. But I do want to acknowledge Senator Siewert. Senator Siewert is my ex-deputy chair on the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport, and I valued her input at every opportunity that we had to work together. She has not gone completely. Senator Siewert does pop in now again on certain inquiries, but she certainly put a non-political spin on the situation—the dire situation which is the Murray-Darling Basin.

I am so sorry—I wish I could wave some magical wand—but the sad reality is that we have been in drought for years. There is no magical wand to wave to make it rain. That side of politics can throw all this nonsense at us, and I am sure there will be some more nonsense—and I am not referring to Senator Fisher because she is sitting there; I am just saying there are other speakers from the opposite side that will have their say.

We know that on 10 September the New South Wales government reached an agreement with Clyde Agriculture to purchase the land and associated water rights on Toorale Station for $23.74 million, but may I say—no, not ‘may I say’; I will say—they did not have a gun stuck to their head. They did not have their arm twisted behind their back. They wanted to sell their water rights and their property and they did. The federal government took the responsible position and purchased it. It was not forced. They wanted to sell. I have heard some outrageous statements from Senator Joyce—and congratulations to Senator Joyce on leading the Nationals, although my money was on you, Senator Nash. I lost that bet, but I think it will come true sooner or later. But Senator Joyce carried on waffling something about Sorry Day—another derogatory political point to make, to the detriment of the stolen generation. That was disgraceful.

Let’s talk about the situation that is the Murray-Darling Basin and let’s talk about the purchase of Toorale Station. The purchase of Toorale Station will return on average 20 billion litres of water—20 billion litres that are not there now, 20 billion litres of water that have been welcomed by other irrigators and by environmentalists, 20 billion litres of water that they were not forced to sell but were happy to sell.

I become passionate when we start talking about jobs, to continue on Senator Joyce’s comments. It is sad if there are nine people employed at this station that may no longer have their jobs there. I did read that they would be offered jobs with New South Wales parks or somewhere like that, I think. But it is rich coming from the National Party, who rolled over and had their tummy tickled at every opportunity for a biscuit, a sugar cube or whatever it was every time that side of politics wanted to try and whack up workers under the guise of Work Choices. I find it really amazing that Senator Joyce can come riding in here on his white charger defending workers. How cruelly they have been treated because they might be offered a job with another employer! As my good colleague and friend Senator Farrell said, they did not give a damn when they were screwing over—I will not say ‘screwing over’, sorry—giving employers an opportunity to strip hard-fought and hard-won conditions in awards and wages from young workers or workers who had English as their second language.

But I will continue. I will just say that significant environmental assets that will benefit from this purchase include some wetlands of national importance at Menindee Lakes as well as the Darling River itself. The recent CSIRO sustainable yields audit for the Barwon-Darling system also found that the middle zone of the Darling Range between Bourke and Menindee Lakes is in poor condition, as is the whole Murray-Darling Basin.

To try and explain where we are coming from and where the argument is going, I have some statements here and I want to share them with the Senate and see if someone opposite can help me on where the coalition opposition actually sits on this important issue of the degradation of the Murray-Darling Basin. It may come as no surprise, but the coalition have seven positions—not one or two but seven positions. It just depends on what part of the Murray-Darling Basin they are talking about, whether they are down in Adelaide arguing over where the Coorong and the Lower Lakes are or whether they are happily, merrily skipping along the Top End, in Senator Joyce’s end in Queensland, in Bourke or wherever they are. But how can you have seven different positions?

I want to quote a few of them. I will share them with you, Mr Acting Deputy President. Position 1: support for the Rudd government’s buyback, by none other than Mr Greg Hunt. On 29 April Mr Greg Hunt said: ‘We are’—and I assume he means the opposition, including the Nationals—‘pleased that they are involved in the buyback.’ Great—good endorsement. That is wonderful. Let’s put the politics aside and move on to how we can address this dire situation. But then there is South Australian senator Simon Birmingham, who said in estimates on 22 February:

… the government stated that the need to restore in the order of 500 billion litres to the Murray-Darling system was a matter of urgency—

I would agree with him there—

in part of your overall 1,500 billion litre commitment, which of course we all support.

Once again, ‘we’. I assume for you, Senator Nash, that would be the Nationals as well as the Liberals.

Position 2: buyback is meaningless. So, in the space of four or five weeks, it has gone from ‘support’ to ‘meaningless’. That was from Mr John Cobb, the member for Calare. I have to apologise: is Mr John Cobb a National or a Liberal? I do not know. You might be able to help me out, Senator Nash. Mr Cobb has said that Minister Wong’s announcement of a $50 million water buyback is ‘politics not policy’. We have Mr Cobb saying that it is meaningless; Senator Birmingham and Mr Hunt, who I believe is the shadow minister for environment or climate change, or something, are supporting it.

Position 3—this is a cracker—comes from none other than Mr Truss. I think he was still your leader on 29 April when he said that ‘shoppers will pay more because of Labor’s decision announced today to buy large quantities of water from farmers in the Murray-Darling Basin’. Maybe we should be spanked; maybe we should not give them the water so that they cannot grow food and we cannot buy it.

And here is this serial offender again: Mr Cobb. Help me out. Is he one of yours, Senator Nash? Sincerely, I am not being smart. I do not know. Of Minister Wong’s decision to buy $3.1 billion of water entitlements guarantees, Mr Cobb said something along the lines of, ‘Communities coping with the worst drought in living memory will go from a natural drought to a Rudd-made drought.’ We commit $3.1 billion for buying water to save the Murray-Darling and we have created the Rudd drought! Unbelievable.

Position 4 is from Mr Christopher Pyne in Adelaide: ‘There should have been $1 billion spent on returning environmental flows into the Murray-Darling Basin.’

Position 5 comes from another serial offender, none other than Mr Greg Hunt: ‘It won’t work.’ He was talking about buybacks. ‘Buybacks will not help the Murray. It cannot help the Murray unless you make the efficiencies.’ For crying out loud! Senator Fisher, can your side of politics at least sing from the same hymn sheet or do you just make it up as you gallop from doorstop to doorstop? As soon as the microphone is shoved in front of a Liberal or National member of parliament, they think they have to comment on something they know nothing about or they are seen not to be supporting each other.

There are still another two positions. Position 6: not in my backyard. This is an absolute cracker from Dr Sharman Stone, the member for Murray, who said, ‘Minister Wong should conduct the buyback only on overallocated streams.’ A month later, Dr Stone said, ‘It is the overallocated areas in New South Wales that should be targeted to buy back water for the environment.’

They support it; they do not. ‘We should do it’; ‘We shouldn’t do it.’ No wonder the Australian population is confused listening to the rabble on that side. Position 7 is a purler. On 31 July on 5AA radio, the former leader of the coalition, when asked by the host, ‘Would you buy back licences compulsorily?’ answered, ‘I think that’s the kind of thing that needs to be considered in different parts of the basin.’ Fair dinkum! No wonder that side over there are an absolute and complete rabble. They embarrass themselves when they come in here and carry on after 11½ years of inaction—of doing absolutely nothing. Then 12 months after an election: ‘Oh, woe is us. We’ve got a problem in the Murray-Darling Basin. Woe is us. We’ve done absolutely nothing.’ The Rudd Labor government has been in power for nine months and all of a sudden it is our fault, after 11½ years of inaction. I commend Minister Wong on her action. I commend the Rudd Labor government for getting off its backside and realising that there is a problem in the Murray-Darling Basin and that no action is not a solution. No action is not an option. Something has to be done. (Time expired)