Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC) Share this | Hansard source

I have the list of speakers here for this item. Being an MPI, people speak for different periods of time. I noticed that Senator Ruston is the speaker for the longest time on this list. The people of South Australia were listening intently, I am sure—we are being broadcast at the moment. They were listening for Senator Ruston to say one thing to this Senate—that she would join all of the other people from South Australia and all of other political parties who are calling on a judicial inquiry in respect to the theft and the corruption in New South Wales of water in the Murray-Darling Basin.

I just want to go through the number of political parties that are supporting this motion. We have the Labor Party, of course, led by Senator Wong. We have Senator Bernardi, a former member of the Liberal Party. Even he recognises that something needs to be done about the theft and the corruption of water from the Murray-Darling Basin. Even Senator Gichuhi, a new senator who hasn't been in the Senate for very long, understands that we need to do something about this issue. What a combination—Senator Bernardi and Senator Hanson-Young are on a unity ticket on this issue! And, of course, we have Senator Xenophon.

What political party is missing? Well, it's the party that's always missing when it comes to the Murray-Darling Basin. It's the Liberal Party. They are nowhere to be seen. I'm pleased that Senator Smith is in the chamber at the moment. We heard Senator Ruston say, 'We shouldn't be playing politics with this issue.' That's exactly what we should be doing with this. We should be playing politics. Those Liberals from South Australia—and I'm looking directly at Senator Birmingham now—should be following the path of Senator Smith. They should be laying down the law to their colleagues and saying, 'There's an issue here that we need to be dealing with.' We saw what Senator Smith did with the issue of same-sex marriage. Those senators from South Australia in the Liberal Party should be jumping up and down day and night about what's gone on here. There's a scandal here. Water from the Murray-Darling Basin has been stolen by upstream irrigators—water that should've gone back into the environment to rescue the Murray-Darling Basin.

For 100 years, the problems of the Murray-Darling Basin were ignored. They finally got dealt with in that golden period of Australian politics—yes, I am talking about the Gillard government—when lots of things got done for the betterment of this country. That was a golden era—I see Senator Birmingham's making some notes here—of Australian politics when Tony Burke, for the first time in our history, fixed the problems of the Murray-Darling Basin. I had the privilege at that time of being his understudy. I was the Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water. It was a great day and Tony Burke built on the terrific work that Senator Penny Wong had done in this portfolio. For the first time we started to restore our great river system—our inland river system—to good health.

We need the Liberals from South Australia to stand up and recognise that there's a problem here. We can't have Barnaby Joyce as our water minister. We can't have that. He is not serious about restoring the health of the Murray-Darling Basin. We need those senators from South Australia—and lower house members of parliament, but particularly the senators—to stand up. Follow the example of Senator Smith. Jump up and down in your caucus. We need to get something done. (Time expired)