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

Senator Heffernan is one of the few people on that side who should know better than to ask that question, because he knows that—whatever the merits of the pipeline—this is an issue about the division by Victoria of its own state shares. He tries to make a comparison with water purchase, but he knows that purchase of entitlement is a different issue. I share his concern about where the basin is, and the figures that he put into Hansard just now demonstrate the concerning and extremely difficult situation we face in the Murray-Darling Basin. I wish that more on that side would recognise that challenge, because we have a range of senators and coalition members who refuse to acknowledge the reality of the challenge in the Murray-Darling Basin, and who continue to be opposed to water purchase—