Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

No-one better understands the importance of a healthy Murray-Darling Basin than the farmers and the communities that live along the banks of the rivers. It's our farmers who put on the tables the amazing fresh food that Australians eat every day. So achieving a healthy river system should absolutely be something that can be agreed to by everybody in this place. It doesn't matter where you sit on the political spectrum or where you live; you should support a healthy river system.

However, the pathway to deliver the Murray-Darling Basin Plan has been seriously threatened by the Albanese Labor government over the past couple of weeks. In announcing that the cap on buybacks will be lifted, they have abandoned the incredibly important balance between achieving a healthy river system and supporting the viability of our river communities and the food they produce. These are the very producers that make the difference between our being able to eat the very best food in the world and our importing our food from countries that do not have the same ability to meet environmental and nutritional standards as Australia. Ripping huge amounts of additional water, via buybacks, from our irrigators will absolutely decimate river communities like my home town of Renmark. To put it in context, the buyback proposal on the table by the Albanese Labor government would see 38 gigalitres of water recovered from South Australia, which is more than the entire entitlement of the Renmark irrigation district. My home town would be gone.

In this economic environment, Labor's definition of a willing seller also ignores the reality that's currently being faced by irrigators. A willing seller is not somebody who has the bank breathing down their neck. I have always supported the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, but I cannot and will not support buybacks, because we know that buybacks harm river communities. The government should have the courage to face these river communities during the Senate inquiry into this legislation, because it will have significant and permanent consequences.