Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to place on the record my grave concerns about the water management operations and the regulation of water in New South Wales. It is those concerns that give rise to the disallowance that's before the chamber today, and it's those concerns that have prompted Labor to indicate its support for this disallowance as the debate has proceeded.

The issue is this: the position just presented by Senator Birmingham—that this is merely a matter of a handful of people committing crimes—is not what is happening in New South Wales at all. What is actually happening is that there has been an ongoing failure of the New South Wales government to put in place the regulations necessary to protect the health of the river.