Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water) Share this | Hansard source

You can say that, Senator Williams, but this government has achieved what no government in the past, in Australia's history, has been able to achieve. That is, for the first time, agreement between the federal government and the states on the restoration of the communities in the Murray and the environmental outcomes. We have achieved that. Most people thought that was impossible. We have achieved it. When we say we are going to implement this plan, that is exactly what we are going to do: we are going to implement this plan. We are going to restore the environmental health of the Murray—we are going to see those red gums returned to health along the Murray and the Murray-Darling—and we are going to protect those communities that rely on the water from this river. That is what we are going to do. That is what we have set out to achieve, and that is what we will do—if you pass this legislation.