Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition does not support these amendments, just as we do not support the National Water Commission (Abolition) Bill 2014, in its entirety, because as we have outlined it is lazy and short-sighted and I think these amendments are a cynical last-minute attempt to gain support for a dud policy. They do not go anywhere near far enough to ensure that the Productivity Commission can retain the value of the National Water Commission. The National Water Commission, as has been outlined by my Senate colleagues on this side of the chamber, particularly just recently by Senator McEwen, is an independent, expert authority whose work has not been completed, because water reform in this country has not been completed. But the government seems to be bent on getting rid of independent, expert authorities, be it the Climate Commission and now the National Water Commission. It is incredibly short-sighted.

Appointing an associate commissioner in this amendment, with expertise in water management, would of course add value to its work in water, should the National Water Commission be abolished. We acknowledge that. Also, binding the Productivity Commission to convening a stakeholder working group would also lend greater credibility to its work on water management. But these amendments really are just window dressing. They are a last-minute attempt to gain some support for this policy, which is just so incredibly short-sighted, when water reform in this country has not been completed.

We know that this commission was an initiative established by John Howard to deliver the National Water Initiative. The coalition government are now walking away from that initiative that was set up by the then Liberal coalition government. It is a little hypocritical, it threatens all of the progress that the National Water Initiative has gained and it betrays stakeholders who depend on effective national water reform in this country. For all of those reasons, the opposition will not be supporting these amendments.