Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

The government is not supportive of this amendment. I just want to go through what I understand to be the logic behind it and explain why the government is not supportive of it.

First, a range of the issues in subsection (2) that Senator Xenophon’s amendment goes to are issues essentially that we would anticipate the authority will consider in the context of the preparation of the Basin Plan. Second, I make the point that, under section 87, audits of the current act by the National Water Commission are provided for every five years, and I also would refer the good senator and the opposition to section 253 of their own act, which deals with the role of the ACCC in addition to provisions in the bill which give certain powers to the ACCC. I would also refer senators to what section 253 of Mr Turnbull’s act says, which is a review of the operation of the act. The government’s view is that the existing act and bill really deal with the issues that Senator Xenophon is seeking to promote.

I would make this point though on the amendment in relation to the Productivity Commission auditing infrastructure projects that the Commonwealth invests in. We wonder whether Senator Xenophon has canvassed that matter with irrigators in the Riverland, because it has certainly never been a point put to me. I wonder whether Senator Nash’s constituents would be aware of her view that the Productivity Commission should be auditing infrastructure projects that those constituents are seeking. I make this point because there are obviously potential consequences from such an amendment. The government’s view is that the existing provisions of the act will deal with the issues.