Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this proposed Murray-Darling Basin Commission of Inquiry Bill 2019 and put the position as determined by the opposition. Before I do that I would like to pick up on a reference by Senator Fawcett to Goyder's line, that famous historical line across the north of South Australia. I might add that it is mentioned in a Redgum song. Goyder originally did his line about 30 years after South Australia was first founded. One of the reasons was that they wanted to distinguish lands for cropping from those which were for grazing.

Mr Goyder, who was the Surveyor-General for South Australia, was sent out to work out what that line was, and he determined that. But for a number of years people thought that he was wrong and that the old concept that the rain follows the plough applied—that the further north you went beyond Goyder's line, the rain would simply follow. One of the reasons people speculated that there was so much rainfall in the years after Goyder for a relatively short period of time was the explosion of Krakatoa in Indonesia—it threw so much silt and dust into the air that it actually changed the rainfall patterns in the north of South Australia—and so families like my own family ended up in a place called Morchard, thinking that it was capable of being used for cropping. I say that as the first of us born in Murray Bridge, on the Murray River. Having a lifelong love of the river, I have always been committed to its sustainability, its health, so that future generations can use the river in the same way as current generations.

In September 2010, I was appointed to the position of Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water. From that time, I worked closely with the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Tony Burke, to continue the good work of Senator Penny Wong to secure a sustainable future for the Murray-Darling Basin. The sign-off of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and its passage through the parliament in November 2012 were historic moments of basin-wide cooperation after decades of mismanagement of our most precious natural resource. We must not allow short memories to see us return to a situation where self-interest is prioritised above the national interest when it comes to this mighty river system, which of course is the lifeblood of such a vast region of our nation. The health and sustainability of the Murray-Darling Basin is, as I said in my maiden speech in this place, 'a national problem demanding a national solution'. That's true of any potential threats to the integrity of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan itself.

About two years ago, Four Corners aired allegations of water theft and corruption in New South Wales. In April this year, the Liberal-National government was faced with another water scandal, this time about a massive water buyback worth $80 million, from Eastern Australia Agriculture, which was linked to the Morrison government minister Angus Taylor. And, more recently, Four Corners this month reported concerning claims in respect to the Murray-Darling Basin Water Infrastructure Program. The Morrison government doesn't appear to know where and how taxpayer dollars are being spent or what environmental or water efficiency value is being achieved for these very significant investments. If that's the case, then this government has failed Australian farmers, communities and the environment.

We are in the middle of a very serious drought. In fact, one of my neighbours, who is into his 80s now, says that he believes this is the worst drought that he's encountered in his lifetime. Holding a royal commission would likely delay action that is urgently needed. We have seen it all before with this government: 'Let's wait for an outcome. Let's wait for the recommendations'. Well, the Murray-Darling Basin doesn't have time to wait. With public confidence and the plan being undermined by the government's water gaffes, the time for transparency and accountability in the plan is now. To restore confidence, transparency is needed first and foremost. That will require immediate physical, scientific study rather than a drawn-out lawyer-led process. The government must commit to a comprehensive independent audit of the water infrastructure scheme and come clean with the details of the payments under that scheme.

The Morrison government's water-related gaffes and controversies are undermining public trust in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. Labor has been calling on the government to take real action in relation to the plan. The Productivity Commission told the government in December 2017 that better monitoring, evaluation, auditing and reporting is needed. The government needs to do its job and to act. The government needs to dramatically and urgently expand the monitoring and evaluation of river health right across the basin. There's a need for scientific monitoring. We cannot have a delay or allow this government to kick the can down the road while the Murray-Darling Basin waits for the urgent action it now requires.

The Murray-Darling Basin Plan was an historic agreement, delivered by a Labor government, in which all basin jurisdictions were to work together for the good of the whole basin. The plan forged a consensus after more than a century of intractable conflict, but it is meaningless if water theft is allowed by upstream states. For the same reason that the plan requires jurisdictions to work together, any potential threats to the plan need to be dealt with through means that will be effective across jurisdictional boundaries. Everyone knows that action is needed. I know it, Labor knows it and the Murraylands and Riverland Local Government Association of South Australia know it. Australians who live on and make their living from the Murray River know it.

Let me read what River Murray irrigators had to say about the issue. On 31 July 2017, Broken Hill farmer Robert McBride said: 'We watched our river die for 8½ months last year, and that's a catastrophe. It's your catastrophe and it's my catastrophe. What is critically important is the bipartisan support we're receiving. It's your river, and it's not going to last much longer unless it's protected accordingly.' On the same day, South Australian River Murray irrigator Sam Dodd said: 'The main issue is government and bureaucracy being complicit in undermining the Basin Plan. I certainly support the minister and the Premier and others to support a judicial inquiry.'

The Greens have struck a deal with the government today to be able to debate this bill. They were the ones who referred the bill to the Senate inquiry. This move by the Greens to debate the bill without first considering the report of the inquiry and understanding the bill's ramifications is premature and arrogant. Labor believes that the Senate should not pre-empt the outcome of the Senate inquiry into this bill.

Australians want accountability and transparency, but the Morrison government is asleep at the wheel in relation to the Murray-Darling. Across state borders, communities know what needs to happen, and they have asked the government to get on with it. Sadly, Liberal members from South Australia in the federal parliament are more interested in proving to their eastern state mates that they have their backs than they are in representing South Australian Murray River communities. They know that the Nationals can't be trusted with the water portfolio. In fact, the member for Barker, Mr Tony Pasin, said it himself. When Barnaby Joyce was given responsibility for water, on 21 September 2015, Tony Pasin said:

I'm just a little concerned about the fact that we now have a deeper involvement of the National Party with respect to the implementation of the plan.

The National Party don't have significant interests in the lower end of the river system …

When Senator Ruston took on responsibility as the Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, on 21 September 2015, she said she'd stand up for the full implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. Senator Ruston told the ABC at the time:

We mustn't forget the framework is already in place. The plan has been passed and is in legislation.

She also said:

I'd like to think that I've got the negotiation skills to make sure we get an outcome for everyone.

Well, Senator Ruston, the framework is in place and the plan has been passed and is in legislation. Now is the time to demonstrate those negotiating skills to make sure that the plan is implemented as it should be. Now is the time to stand up and make the case on behalf of the communities who rely on the river and to understand the importance of utilising sustainability. It's time to make that case on behalf of the communities and the irrigators who have stood up and backed Labor's call for these serious allegations to be investigated in an appropriately thorough and transparent way.

In August 2017, Senator Ruston and Tony Pasin, in response to a letter I wrote to the editors of the Murray Pioneer and Loxton News in the Riverland, stated, 'We must also never forget that it will be our state which risks the most if it does not work with other jurisdictions to deliver it.' They're right about South Australia risking the most if the integrity of the plan is threatened, but, as elected representatives of South Australia, they have a duty to ensure that other jurisdictions are working just as faithfully as South Australia to deliver the plan. They have a duty to South Australian Murray River communities to ensure that irrigators upstream are working just as hard and investing just as much to deliver efficiencies as irrigators in our home state have been doing for years. Their duty isn't to Victorian, New South Wales or Queensland irrigators, or to their colleagues in those states; it's to the people of South Australia. If Senator Ruston and Tony Pasin are serious about representing South Australian Murray River communities, they'll stop parroting their eastern state mates and start standing up for the current and future health of the Murray River in the interests of the people of South Australia.

As a proud South Australian with a lifelong love of the River Murray, I'll always do my bit to ensure that this parliament protects a sustainable, healthy future for the entire river system, and I know all of my Labor colleagues here in the federal parliament and the basin states will do the same.