Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I would not have made a statement on this particular motion. However, the comments that I've just heard from Senator Spender require a response. To suggest that South Australia has been misusing its water, when South Australia has had a track record of responsible and efficient water management over the entire duration that the Murray-Darling Basin has been operating under an irrigation system, I think, just reflects the fact that you have absolutely no idea about the operation and management of our river system over the last hundred years. South Australia has never breached its cap. It has never exceeded its limit. It was an earlier adopter when it came to efficient irrigation practices. We're regarded as world's-best practice. For you to stand there and suggest that, in any way, South Australia has mismanaged, misrepresented or in any way not achieved and met its obligations under responsible river management just shows your complete ignorance and misunderstanding of river management.