Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Conventions. Thank you, Senator Birmingham, that's very helpful. It did form a part of those discussions. It was actually a Labor government that delivered significant achievement in arriving at a plan, and this water bill seeks to deliver on the time lines of that plan. It was negotiated as part of a historic COAG agreement with Mr Burke in the other place, as he was the then water minister. It was finally signed off with the states in 2012 and it was indeed a historic achievement.

Of course, no-one is saying the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is perfect, but it is historic and it is the only agreement in 100 years that's had the chance of ensuring the health of the basin. When the Labor Party were in government, we fought to achieve the plan and in opposition we are continuing a fight to ensure that it's delivered on time. We want the plan implemented in full, because it is the first time in our nation's history that all of the basin states and the Commonwealth have agreed to work together to secure the health of the river. We are committed to protecting the River Murray, and we will always fight to ensure the plan is implemented in full and on time.

What we have seen though in recent months is a lot of grandstanding, particularly from the Greens political party, about the Murray-Darling plan. Of course, this is also the party that advocates for climate change, yet was not able to vote for it when there was a significant chance of achieving and effecting proper legislation to deal with climate change.

We are committed to the plan that we put in place. In opposition we are going to do everything we can, as we are now doing, to force this government to deliver on the plan, notwithstanding some of the views of those inside the National Party, particularly—sadly and regrettably—the former minister. The plan is to return the 450 gigalitres to the river, and it comes with a funding package of $1.77 billion that Labor actually delivered in 2012. The funding is for on-farm water projects to provide the Commonwealth with water and is to remove constraints in the basin to allow the water to get where it is required. But Mr Barnaby Joyce as water minister put the 450 gigalitres of water for the environment in doubt. The Murray-Darling Basin Plan was sabotaged by Mr Joyce as water minister and he turned a blind eye to what really can be properly described as water theft.

Senator Wong has indicated there have been extraordinarily serious allegations of water theft and corruption in the northern basin. Perhaps some in this chamber saw the Four Corners program recently which went into those allegations. It stated in that program that more than 100 years of greed, mismanagement and plundering of one of Australia's most valuable resources was supposed to end five years ago with the introduction of the federal government's Murray-Darling Basin Plan. Billions of dollars of taxpayers' money was committed in a hard-won deal to save the inland river system from the ravages of heavy agricultural use, particularly the thirsty work of irrigating the vast cotton plantations of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland.

On that Four Corners program they raised serious allegations about the way the plan is working and there were accusations of illegal water use—the pumping of water from fragile rivers and the tampering of meters. There were also discussions that were aired on the program between bureaucrats and powerful irrigators, and of course these were quite shocking revelations because the plan was supposed to be managing those interests.

I suggest that, if people haven't watched that Four Corners program, they should do that, but they should also watch two films which are quite poetic and moving and concern mismanagement and greed around water resources. They are French films called Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources. They are set in Provence shortly after the First World War, and they concern the human tragedy of people trying to steal land and control water sources. I would suggest those films for those cold winter nights during the recess. They're very good films.

I want to look also at what the Labor Party have sought assurances on. We want some metering funding so we know what water is used. We want 'no meter, no pump' rules, embargoes on environmental water, and daily extraction limits so the environmental water is protected. We support a South Australian royal commission on water, although it only relates to South Australian matters and, as I said at the beginning of this contribution, Victoria is obviously affected as it has a large frontage on the Murray. So we would support that royal commission. We would like the government to fix the mess that's been created by the Prime Minister and the former minister Mr Joyce, and we would like that done as quickly as possible with a lack of grandstanding—just to get on with it.