Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Hanson-Young; it was from Saturday. I do not check your website all that often, you will be pleased to know. However, Senator Hanson-Young, what I did check was that during the committee hearings into this legislation and the complementary bill, the legislation to establish the environmental special water account, the Australian Greens were nowhere to be seen. There were hearings in Adelaide, there were hearings in Canberra. Two different opportunities, not a single one of the Green senators. How many of them are there nowadays? That is right, there are nine of them. There are nine of them nowadays.

Senator Fierravanti-Wells interjecting—

You are dead right, Senator Fierravanti-Wells: you would have thought that one of them could have turned up. They are pretty quick to come into this place and throw barbs around, they are pretty quick to put out press releases, they are very, very quick to engage in the stunts, and yet when the hard work was there to be done where were the Greens? I will acknowledge that Senator Hanson-Young was, I think, overseas at the time, but you would have thought that one of the other eight Greens senators might have been able to participate in the inquiry into this bill and the other bill.

I am disappointed that, as we are getting close to reaching something that could be quite historic in finally delivering on the long-held dream of national management for the Murray-Darling Basin, there remain those who say they are concerned about the environment, but frankly, from their actions, look far more like they just want to maintain the debate rather than see an actual outcome. I want to see an outcome from this process—be in no doubt about that. I want to see a plan brought into this parliament that all of us on this side of the parliament can support alongside all those on the other side of the parliament. I want to see us ensure that we have a future in the Murray-Darling: that it has a healthy river system, that it has healthy and robust communities, and that the outcomes and ambitions that John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull had in 2007 are delivered. I want to see a situation where we make sure that environmental water is used just as efficiently, just as effectively, as irrigated water is used. I want us to get to a situation where eventually—hopefully—squabbling between the states just might come to an end. Maybe that is too much to hope for, but perhaps we could at least get to a situation where there is an acknowledgement that all states are trying to apply best practice standards to infrastructure, to irrigation and to environmental water use, and that we are trying to get a positive outcome for the river system, for the river communities and for this country's future.

The opposition will propose one amendment to this legislation. The amendment seeks to ensure that the socioeconomic test that Minister Burke and the Prime Minister and others have spoken of is enshrined in this legislation. We hope the government will support that amendment. It certainly is something we have spoken to the government about in relation to the other legislation that is before the parliament at present—the Water Amendment (Water for the Environment Special Account) Bill 2012—and I particularly hope to see changes made to that to ensure that all of the promises that the government has made on that legislation are included in that legislation when it comes to preserving the future for communities.

As I sum up, I think back to the number of times in this chamber that I have had cause to speak on the Murray-Darling—a topic I have spoken on probably more than any other. I am pleased, as I have said, that we may be close to getting something that will deliver a long-held dream of national reform. I hope the government does not mess it up in the last few minutes. I hope that, in the final days or weeks, we get an outcome that all of those fellow senators from all of those different states representing all of those different communities have something they can go back to their communities with and say: 'We can work with this. We can build on it. Sure, we can improve it. We can make sure that it's as fair as possible to each of your communities, but that it is something that gives us a healthy river and does so in a way that preserves the economic and social fabric of the all of our communities.' I look forward to the committee stage of the debate, and, importantly, to the passage of this bill.