Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

With due respect for the work of Senator Xenophon in understanding the issues that he brings to light, it is our belief that in the competencies for some of these assessments being placed on the MDBA that the government should certainly consider the water efficiency of various infrastructure before making decisions on water resource plans, but this was not the intended role of the MDBA. The MDBA has been tasked with establishing how much water is needed for the environment, not how the water is to be recovered. The government department and the appropriate bodies have the information about the efficiency of water infrastructure in different parts of the Basin and it should be left to them to inform these decisions.

We lobbied and negotiated to have ministerial discretion placed back in this bill—and we attained that. As such, it gives us greater confidence about how some of the issues that Senator Xenophon brought to our attention will be addressed. We also note the investments that will be made by the plan in its current form in bridging the gap. We think that greater attention should be applied to making sure that that money is efficiently spent. We have had discussions thus far—brought up by my colleague Senator Birmingham—about the money that seems to be disappearing out of the funds towards administration and not actually delivering outcomes, further loading up the MDBA with assessments. Once more, with an understanding of Senator Xenophon's role—and we respect that role—the coalition, in this instance, will not be supporting these amendments.