Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the second reading of the Water Amendment Bill. In February I spoke on behalf of the ALP in support of the disallowance of Basin Plan Amendment Instrument 2017 (No. 1). At that time I made it clear that Labor were supporting the disallowance, because we would not accept anything less than the delivery of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in full and on time.

Our decision at that time to vote in support of the disallowance wasn't a position reached lightly. We in the Labor Party know the significance of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan because we are the party that achieved that plan in government. I spoke in February of my experience as water minister at the COAG discussions with former Prime Minister Rudd, where, after 100 years of conflict, basin jurisdictions finally reached agreement on the future of the basin. That meeting came after some 11 weeks of negotiations by governments right across the basin. Signatories agreed to the 47 points in the MOU signed by the Commonwealth and the states. And, as I have previously said, to describe that process as 'taxing' probably doesn't even begin to describe what we had to go through to get all of the states as well as the Commonwealth on board, something the coalition under Malcolm Turnbull as water minister could never achieve. But we did it. We did it as a Labor government, with the support of the states. I'm very proud to have been part of this achievement and I'm proud as water minister to have purchased and returned almost 1,000 gigalitres of water to the river. Perhaps Senator Hanson-Young might consider what a Labor government delivered: 1,000 gigalitres of environmental water.

It gave me firsthand experience in the difficulty of balancing and dealing with the competing interests across the basin. That is an insight shared by Labor shadow minister for the environment and water, Tony Burke, who was the minister in the Gillard government when the plan was finally achieved and legislated, in 2012. That was a historic achievement. We reached agreement with all basin states, delivering a plan to return the equivalent of 3,200 gigalitres to the basin. We are very fortunate in the opposition to have Tony continuing as the shadow minister for environment and water, particularly given his intimate understanding of the Basin Plan and his personal commitment to ensuring its protection and implementation. It's an experience and an approach I wish others had, because frankly it is pretty easy to come into the Senate and lecture senators about what you think the right thing to do is.

We see again today that the Greens intend to move amendments to alter the Basin Plan put in place by the Labor government. We have just endured another series of grandstanding and posturing from Senator Hanson-Young. Let's remember, this is the party that voted against the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, just in the way they voted against the carbon price and sat with Cory Bernardi when the CPRS was voted on.

Senator Hanson-Young interjecting—

You wouldn't want to have a plan that actually did something, would you—