Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission of Inquiry Bill 2019. At some stage on 15 November 2017—my first day in this chamber—I wandered out to the Table Office and tabled a motion for an OPD, an order for the production of documents. That order for the production of documents was returned to the Senate, and those documents became the source of the controversy that everyone understands as 'watergate'. That's where we had a purchase of 29 gigalitres of water from the Kia Ora and Clyde properties for $80 million. The water was overland flow water, which means it's tied to a property and, apart from that, doesn't have any legally tradeable basis. Originally, the property owners offered to sell the water for $2,200 per megalitre, but the government managed to negotiate them up to $2,745 per megalitre—not very impressive. It was sold by Eastern Australia Agriculture, a company that has ties to a Cayman Islands company called Eastern Australia Irrigation. We know that the company effectively booked a $52 million profit in relation to this particular sale, and then, of course, that was shifted off to the Cayman Islands, where I'm sure very little tax has been paid—certainly none from an Australian perspective. We also don't know who the beneficiaries are.

There have been two other sales. There was the Tandou sale, where the government bought water from Webster. They paid $38 million for 21 gigalitres—2.5 gigalitres of high-security water and 19 gigalitres of general-security water—and they also paid $40 million in compensation. That has never been seen. Nowhere else has compensation been paid in respect of water infrastructure across the basin when there have been buybacks. The interesting thing, of course, is that they bought Darling River water. For the benefit of the chamber, Tandou is just slightly south of Weir 32, which everyone knows is where the Menindee fish kill occurred. There is no water. We bought water that simply isn't there and, on the face of it, may never be there. We paid top dollar for that. In some sense, Webster saw the taxpayer coming and took the money, and now we see no water along the river there.

It's quite interesting, if you watch the cotton growers, that Cubbie Station is actually having problems with water now because of the amount of water that's been extracted upstream of them. We've seen all the cotton growers shifting further to the north, and now, because they're having difficulties even there, they're shifting to the Murrumbidgee, where they'll take that water as well and we'll end up with an ecological disaster.

Then there was the Warrego sale: 10.6 gigalitres of water for $16 million, which is two times the price paid when the Labor Party did some water buybacks in 2008. The very minister that approved that purchase, Minister Joyce, declared back in 2008 that this water would 'have no effect on solving the problems of the lower Murray-Darling'. So we've ended up buying water that we know flows down the Warrego and goes to marsh lands, and very little of it makes it to the Murray-Darling. Then what the government did was swap the entitlements to the border rivers so that water could, effectively, be used by the irrigators, predominantly cotton growers, up along the border rivers.

Of course, there were other things going on prior to my arrival in this chamber. As has already been mentioned by Senator Farrell, there was the 'Pumped' show by Four Corners, which showed there was theft, rorting, meter tampering and corruption going on. We had an investigation by ICAC in New South Wales on the lack of enforcement. Also, I was personally involved in investigating the activities of Norman Farming, up near Goondiwindi, where, unfortunately, Mr Lamey, a very small and ethical irrigator, was having trouble with a neighbour. I won't say too much more about that because the matter is before the court. There are fraud allegations before the court, so I'll leave that alone. But, for someone to stand up and suggest that the plan is running well—there are so many things going on that we need to be looking into.

In fact, it goes even further back than the 'Pumped' program. It goes back to the formation of the plan. If you've taken the time to read the well-written words of Bret Walker SC, the commissioner for the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission, you'll know he has determined that the plan is not lawful because it is based on improper science. The Water Act requires the plan to be based on science and it is not—not proper science. It shouldn't be 2,750 gigalitres—not even 3,200 gigalitres. It should more likely be a number starting with four. Of course, we've all heard the jokes about whether or not the number for the sustainable diversion limits will be a New South Wales postcode. The royal commissioner also made findings of maladministration. The royal commissioner also made findings of political interference. So there's stuff going on here. I can understand maybe some people don't want to have an investigation, some people don't want to look into this, but there's $13 billion of taxpayers' money at stake here and, more importantly, there's a river system at stake.

Of course, whilst I was in this chamber, I saw everyone in this chamber, bar a few, including the Greens, vote for a 70-gigalitre increase to water allocations into the northern basin as part of the Northern Basin Review. Once again, there were claims of flawed science. Initially it was indicated that the effect on South Australia would be 20 gigalitres, but that became politically unpalatable, so the number got changed to four without any particular explanation. So that 70 gigalitres has gone. That was in the same year as the first fish kill occurred downstream of the northern basin at Menindee—a shocking situation. Walgett has run out of water, as we've put irrigation before water for the community.

Moving forward, we have the SDL projects. They were voted upon in this chamber but not by Centre Alliance; we didn't vote for the Northern Basin Review or the SDL projects. It was very clear that this chamber did not have the information that it needed to make a good decision in respect of the legislation. We were blind to the approvals that were given.

The Productivity Commission has looked at these projects and found that they are highly risky, which means the likelihood of them delivering what they intend to deliver is highly unlikely. That was also a view shared by the royal commissioner—once again, Bret Walker SC. In fact, there's been a fair amount of analysis that suggests that this is probably the most expensive way to recover water from the river. I know there's a need, or a want, to have no negative socioeconomic effects. I get that, but, actually, there are studies now that show that, instead of spending a whole bunch of money on infrastructure, you could simply take that money and invest it in the community and you would create four times the number of jobs. So we're not even achieving the objectives. There's very little doubt that the SDL projects will deliver water back to the river. It's hugely expensive and it creates fewer jobs than simply buying back water, which the river desperately needs.

The river is in a parlous state. We have had the Menindee fish kills. There's no question: the Academy of Science basically came to the scientific conclusion that the fish kills were the result of not just the drought but the overallocation of water. These are the facts. I know Senator Fawcett was suggesting that the facts are being made up, but these are from scientific bodies. This is the Productivity Commission. This is a royal commissioner. This is the ABC, with 'Pumped'. That led to several inquiries and massive change. It's not like these things were made up. The ABC did a fantastic job with that particular program in revealing issues with the river.

We're running out of water. As I mentioned, Cubbie Station is having trouble getting water now because all of the cotton growers have shifted north, upstream, and they're taking the water before it gets to Cubbie. That's why we have the absurd situation where the Foreign Investment Review Board has again extended the time frame for Cubbie's owners to sell the property, because it's actually worth nothing now. And it ain't going to get any better. I'll be interested to see—perhaps foreshadowing some questions on notice or a question in the chamber—exactly when the decision will now be made, or when the sale of shares, as is required by the Foreign Investment Review Board—and down from 80 per cent to 51 per cent—will in fact take place. As I mentioned before, we've seen cotton shifting to the Murrumbidgee, because that's the next place to get water—for now.

There's no place you can go with this Murray-Darling Basin Plan where you can get a good feeling for the inflows and the diversions, and who has the diversions, and how much overland flow there is. We're all blind to that. No-one can see that. When I asked questions at estimates about money that's getting spent on some of these programs, we hit a block when we got to, 'Money got transferred to New South Wales,' or, 'Money got transferred to Queensland.' We can't see what's happening there.

How can the government not support this very worthy bill that's been put up by the Greens to simply inquire into some of the allegations that are floating around—some of the issues that, if addressed, would make the plan work better? That's all that's being asked here, to try and make something better by shining a light on it. Senator Fawcett says, 'You've got to rely on the facts.' In some instances, we can't see the facts. Today—I note Senator Ruston is sitting there, and she'll be listening eagerly to what I'm about to say—we still don't know what the valuations are for these water buybacks. They are still redacted. What's there to hide? There are some real problems with the Murray-Darling, and right now we do need to inquire as to what is going on. That's pretty important—