Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to table an explanatory memorandum relating to the bill.

Leave granted.

I table an explanatory memorandum and seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

The Water Amendment (Purchase Limit Repeal) Bill 2019 will repeal Barnaby Joyce's 1500GL cap on buybacks. We need as many tools as possible to get the Basin Plan back on track. At the moment, if the supply projects, the 605GL of "down water" projects, don't deliver results then buybacks is not an option. If the Murray-Darling Basin Authority recommends that more water for the environment is needed, then buybacks may not be an option. We need options.

As the review of the Basin Plan draws nearer then we need to remove barriers to implementing the Basin Plan. The Basin is under pressure and the government doesn't seem to care. The fish kills south of Menindee are a stark reminder of what happens when you ignore nature. When we learnt of the fish kills Labor asked the Prime Minister to take action - and no action was taken. Labor therefore sought scientific advice from the Academy of Sciences regarding mass fish kills—then the government decided to undertake a similar study.

The government did not act until Labor took action.

When the fish kills occurred Labor's Shadow Minister for Water visited Menindee to inspect the disaster first hand, and to meet with locals. The government was nowhere to be seen. Again it was Labor at a state and federal level taking the lead.

The Productivity Commission and the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission have both produced reports regarding implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. These reports raise serious issues in regard to the Coalition government's ability to manage Australia's water resources. They highlight that at every turn people like Barnaby Joyce turned the dial against river health.

Mr Joyce wrote to the South Australian Minister attacking the 450GL of water for the environment. He boasted in a pub that he was fighting against water reform. The government has been attacked for ignoring the science, for allowing water theft to occur and for secrecy. Labor raised those issues, and sought assurance from the government. And to their credit the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, Mr Littleproud, took action.

The question is—is it enough to undo the harm of those that went before him on the Coalition side?

Labor wants the Basin Plan delivered in full. We want every option for water purchase looked at, noting that it is voluntary purchase; it's not forcing someone to sell. It is running a tender.

We also want infrastructure projects to work and for the supply measures to deliver but we won't close off options if they don't.

The 1500GL cap on buybacks wasn't part of the Basin Plan and when it was supported a few years ago Labor said our support was conditional that it didn't impact on achieving the objectives of the Basin Plan. By removing the cap we are giving options to government, to act on advice they receive and to use buybacks if the 605GL of projects don't deliver.

I commend the bill to the Senate.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.