Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I find it outrageous that, before a decision is even taken by this chamber, Minister Wong sends in the duty minister to state that she will not be providing the documents that this chamber may yet decide to request. Minister Wong chose in estimates last week to make a very clear political point in response to a Dorothy Dixer question. She used this letter to make a political point targeting the Liberal and National parties and the Greens and their actions in the Victorian parliament, actions which were very directly about water allocated for Victoria’s north-south pipeline. Their actions ensured that water infrastructure projects proposed by the Commonwealth—versus projects undertaken by the Victorian government—should be treated separately.

Minister Wong seemed to be mounting the argument that somehow they should be coupling them. That was an unacceptable argument at the time. Yet in Senate estimates the minister refused to provide the letter which she was quoting from. Now we have the proposition that somehow it might be refused to be tabled in response to a motion of this chamber. I find this incredibly disappointing. I hope the government will reconsider its decision with regard to this. It needs to reconsider because, if Minister Wong has written to the Victorian Minister for Water, Tim Holding, in the manner she has indicated—that is, that basically she agrees with him that the Victorian upper house should be held to ransom on this matter—it is an outrageous proposition. She knows full well that the Victorian upper house has no power to amend regulations—they can either accept or defeat. What she should be urging the Victorian water minister to do is decouple the two projects, stage 1 and stage 2 of the NVIRP, and ensure that the infrastructure she has promised can go ahead.

Question agreed to.