Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to respond to some of the speakers, and I will be brief. I note the minister has indicated that there are programs in place to ensure water buybacks, but it really is a trickle rather than the flow that we need. Experts like the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and others—such as Professor Grafton, who was on the stakeholder group that looked at the whole issue of water buyback—are saying that you can accelerate the buyback significantly, and that unless you have this buyback accelerated significantly, unless you provide the funds for that, there simply will not be hope for the river system. There needs to be adequate restructuring. Exit packages need to be structured in a way that is accessible in a reasonable way to farmers and irrigators throughout the basin. This is a slice of Australia—1.9 million people who really are on the edge. We have a dying river system; urgent action is required. Unless we act now, unless there is an acceleration of expenditure that has already been allocated for years to come, unless we bring that forward, there will be no turning back. We will reach a tipping point for the river system that will be catastrophic.