Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I'm rising to speak as the minister for agriculture of Australia. I cannot emphasise how important the Murray-Darling Basin is for the future of agriculture in Australia. The Murray-Darling Basin is Australia's major food bowl. It always has been, and, as a Labor government, we want to keep it that way.

I also want to mention that I suspect the chair of the committee will seek to make a short statement at some point this morning. She is detained in another committee hearing at the moment. If people could give her that privilege, that would be much appreciated.

All Australians know, and certainly Australian farmers know, that the Murray-Darling Basin is in extreme trouble. As I say, it is the nation's most important food bowl, and it is vital that we protect the river system that underpins it, that underpins agriculture in the region and that underpins so many rural communities across that basin. If we don't fix the Murray-Darling Basin, we are not just jeopardising the river system that underpins it, but we are jeopardising the agricultural production and the rural communities that rely on that flow of water well into the future. I can't speak for coalition senators, but I can say that this Labor government, the Albanese Labor government, values the work of our farmers and our rural communities incredibly deeply.

The agricultural production that feeds our country and so many other countries is vital from a food security point of view, an export point of view, an economic point of view and a social point of view.

But we do need to accept the reality that the Murray-Darling Basin is in severe distress. And why is that? It is because, despite the Murray-Darling Basin Plan being finalised and agreed to by all the relevant partners more than a decade ago, we then went through a 10-year period of coalition government where the National Party held the strings when it came to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and allowed that plan to be sabotaged, for 10 years—10 years of national sabotage of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

That's best demonstrated by the fact that the plan required—and this was agreed to—the environmental recovery of 450 gigalitres of water from the basin system. And guess how much was recovered in 10 years of coalition government? Two—two gigalitres, out of 450 that was supposed to be recovered for the environment. And it's not just about the environment; it's about the health of the river system that is needed to support the agriculture sector and the rural communities that depend upon it. Two gigalitres out of 450: we cannot allow that to go on. If we do, if we follow the National Party approach, the Murray-Darling Basin and the river system that underpins it will die, and so will our agriculture sector and the rural communities that depend upon it. So, this measure that the government is taking is about saving the Murray-Darling Basin. it's about saving the agriculture sector that relies on it and it's about saving the rural communities that rely on it.

Throughout this debate the National Party and some of their allies have completely misrepresented what is being put forward here in this legislation. If you believed them, you would think that the government's only solution to deliver the 450 gigalitres is about compulsory water buybacks. But nothing could be further from the truth. For starters, Minister Plibersek, the relevant minister, has made absolutely clear that any water buybacks would be completely voluntary—not compulsory, no forced acquisition. They would be voluntary buybacks, from willing sellers, at market prices. That's the first point.

But, more broadly, we're not saying that this has to be achieved only by buybacks. There are going to need to be buybacks to deliver the water that's required. The former government wasn't prepared to do that. We can't get there without some level of voluntary water buybacks. But what Minister Plibersek has made clear is that this plan that is being put forward by our government provides more time to deliver the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, more funding than has ever been provided before, and more options—not just voluntary water buybacks but water infrastructure investments and water efficiency investments—and we are working our way through the various opportunities that are being presented to the government to do that.

So, it's about time people were honest about what the government is putting forward, rather than continuing to run a political campaign that is based on false information, because this is all about saving the Murray-Darling Basin, the agriculture sector and the communities that depend upon it.