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

There is an element of exaggeration and frustration creeping in here. I am not asking for Senator Farrell to make predictions of what will happen in the future; I am asking for him to explain how the government's legislation before us in this chamber at present will work in effect. That is exactly what this process is for. We have second reading speeches where we can talk with great rhetorical flourishes—and maybe, occasionally, I vaguely reach those levels. We can talk about the vibe of things where we in the second reading speeches can talk about the fact that legislation is based on overall state agreements—and these are all very important things—and, yes, Senator Farrell, you and I both want the river to be healthy. You and I both want healthy outcomes in our part of the river system in South Australia.