Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources) Share this | Hansard source

I had a point of order, but I won't waste any time so that I can let Senator McAllister speak. I stand here speaking on behalf of the coalition government to stress the absolute importance of the delivery of this plan in full and on time, not just to the people of South Australia, as Senator Leyonhjelm has just described, but to every single citizen of Australia. Every single citizen of Australia has a stake in this plan. This is a shared resource. The importance of making sure that we have a sustainable Murray-Darling system into the future is absolutely paramount because it is the obligation of this generation to make sure that that river is in the same state or a better state and a sustainable state for future generations.

The development of this plan has been a long time coming, Mr Acting Deputy President, as you would well know. We worked for 100 years to be able to get to this place and this time. In 2012 then-Minister Burke, the Labor minister who was responsible for water, sat down and managed to negotiate the bipartisan support for the delivery of this plan. This plan is not bits and pieces; this plan is a total plan. It includes up-water, it includes down-water and it includes gap water. There are reviews built into it to enable us to adaptively manage as we get more information. This whole plan has been built on the bipartisanship of the support between the coalition—the Liberals and the Nationals—and the Labor Party. So it is with great regret that I stand here today with the suggestion that there is some likelihood that this disallowance motion will get up and put this plan at risk.

I would also say that one of the great things when we as Australians and as people in this place travel around the world is that we are the envy of the rest of the world because of our water management policies in this place and in this country. We're the envy of the world because we tackled a huge problem like the Murray-Darling Basin. We got together and we provided a blueprint for that solution. We are six years into the 14-year delivery on that plan, and it scares the hell out of me that we would suggest that for political reasons—which appear to be the reasons today—we may disallow one of the important components of the plan and that we could actually put this plan in jeopardy. I suppose that, whilst I'm disappointed in Senator Hanson-Young's disallowance motion, I don't suppose I'm particularly surprised. I certainly don't believe she's about the sustainability of the system; I believe this is all about the fact that the Greens don't want us to grow food in the Murray-Darling Basin. They don't want us to take any water out. I'm not particularly surprised at their obstruction.

I would like to put on the record that there were many things in Senator Hanson-Young's contribution that were factually incorrect. There was no acknowledgement for the good practices that have been put in place in the basin. There was a total over-exaggeration in relation to the threat. They come in here and they make allegations under privilege. Senator Hanson-Young came in here and said John Norman was Minister Littleproud's brother-in-law. He's not Minister Littleproud's brother-in-law, and I'm sure she probably knows that. But the inference and the insinuation, by making these accusations, is that something untoward is going on. I would suggest that if she's going to make those insinuations she could go outside of this chamber to make them so Minister Littleproud has an opportunity to respond.

The amendment that is currently before us that we are seeking to pass through this chamber is an amendment that's actually been generated through a review that was put in place, into the Water Act, by Minister Bourke when he was the minister responsible for water in the previous Labor government. What we are seeing here today is a response to a completely complied-with consulted review put in place by Mr Burke. Now we have a suggestion from Senator Wong that they are now going to vote against the very outcome of the review they sought to have. In the northern basin, 200 people's jobs are going to be threatened if this particular amendment is disallowed today. There is no recognition that there is the potential to deliver really good outcomes and really good environmental outcomes in the northern basin with the delivery of the water targets that we are proposing now should be implemented. The livelihood of 200 people—200 families—are not going to be destroyed for the sake of a very nominal and potentially negligent improvement in environmental outcomes. I would call on the Labor Party to think about the hypocrisy of what they are doing here. Think about the hypocrisy of the fact that you are seeking to vote down an amendment that was of your own making.

Can I also say how tremendously disappointed I am in the Nick Xenophon Team for coming in here and indicating that they don't want to support the amendment either; they're going to support the disallowance. This is Humpty Dumpty politics as its absolute worst. I have read the correspondence that we have seen from the Nick Xenophon Team and I have listened to the contribution of the Nick Xenophon Team. They come in here and say they want to work with us and that they want to deliver the plan. But this is Humpty Dumpty: we are going to come in here today and push Humpty off the wall and smash him into a thousand pieces, and then after the South Australian election we will ride in on our big white horse and help you put the plan back together again. Well, let's not break it in the first place, Nick Xenophon Team, because if we don't break it we don't have to put it back together again. And we can walk and chew gum at the same time—we can continue to deliver the plan and at the same time fix up the problems that you have so eloquently highlighted, which we admit are occurring out there in the basin.

Needless to say with Labor, it is politics over the river's health, politics over our local communities, politics over the people who grow the food that we all like to put on our tables so that our children can eat healthy, clean, green Australian-grown food. We're going to put that at risk. We are going to jeopardise the plan. I say to everybody in this place: please don't think of a game of bluff—the New South Wales and Victorian governments have been quite clear that they are going to respond if this disallowance is upheld. I hope they don't. I will work very hard to get them back to the table, as I'm sure you would expect me to. But please don't threaten them. Basically, what you have done is put a gun to their heads and they've now put a gun back to your head. Why don't we all put our guns down and come back to the table and continue to deliver this plan, as we all said we were going to do in 2012.

This is not a game of bluff. If we see an outcome where New South Wales or Victoria choose to walk away from this plan, as they are threatening to do at the moment, it would be an absolute unmitigated disaster for our state of South Australia. We are the great beneficiaries of the plan delivered in full. I want the plan delivered in full, all 3,200 gigalitres of it. I want it delivered in full and I will work with anybody to make sure we deliver it in the best possible way. I'm happy to listen to everybody's comments about how we can do it better, how we can deliver better outcomes and how we can be more efficient with irrigation water and environmental water. So, why don't we all get back to the table and start being constructive, because pulling this thing apart and going in different directions is serving no purpose for anybody.

Today, Professor Williams from the University of Adelaide went into print to say that the danger of blowing up this plan is absolutely extreme for South Australia. Do not call New South Wales and Victoria's bluff, because if they are not bluffing South Australia is in a very serious and precarious state. I would suggest to all of you that you read Professor Williams's comments about the legal consequences. It is all very well and good for Minister Hunt to say he is going to take it to the High Court, but I have to tell you that the losers will be South Australia, our river and our river communities.

I'm not moving away from the serious allegations that have been made about what is going on. But let's fix them. Let's not come in here and blow up the plan. Can I also say that among everybody who has stood up and made a contribution in this place on this particular disallowance motion I haven't seen too many people who live in the basin. I haven't seen too many people whose livelihoods depend on the river. I'm lucky, I have another job, but I wouldn't be earning too much money if this plan fell over. My irrigation business that grows roses—the business you referred to earlier, Senator Hanson-Young—will be in a very precarious state if this plan is not agreed to. It is also interesting that everyone becomes a scientist when they walk into this place. We've employed an extraordinary number of very good scientists. We've consulted to within an inch of our lives on this plan, but all of a sudden everybody in here seems to think they're smarter than the scientists out there.

I call on everybody to stop the blame game—stop blaming each other. Can we please come back to the table, because the only outcome—the best outcome and the only outcome—that is going to serve the interests of Australia, its people and our communities, is going to be the delivery of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in full. Part of that means that we have to allow amendment mechanisms like the one that is before us to pass this chamber. Please, everybody, reconsider your vote on this disallowance motion. We must pass this amendment because we have to get on with delivering the plan.