Perin Davey (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to finish my remarks.

Leave granted.

As I was saying, we need to understand the arrangements of the amendments that have been undertaken and the views and considerations of the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council. Indeed, I have had an order for the production of documents, notice of motion No. 318, that was originally tabled in September. As a courtesy, I was finally delivered some of those documents last Friday. Some of the requests in that order of the production of documents were to seek an understanding of the arrangements entered into by the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council and the advice or correspondence that had been undertaken by the MDBA or the department and the government in entering those agreements.

Interestingly, next to that request for the order of the production of documents, I got a big fat zero. That raises the question: did the government not seek advice before announcing on 22 August this year that she had reached an agreement with New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT for the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill 2023? Did she not seek any advice and just enter that agreement with those jurisdictions without referring to her department or the subject experts? Or do I take it that the department has just chosen to ignore the order of the production of documents and is not providing the advice they gave to the minister? Either way, it is only fair that this chamber understands what that agreement means. As part of this referral, one of the terms of reference that Senator Roberts has included is matters relating to the approval of the amendment by the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council.

We also know that Victoria has not approved or agreed to the water amendment bill. Victoria has stood fast in defence of their communities, so we also need to understand what that means. How can we have a Basin Plan without a jurisdiction and without one of the largest water users in the basin coming on board? What restrictions will there be on the rollout of things like the structural adjustment package and the leasing that I raised earlier? And how will the water recovery be made? In her correspondence with Senator Van, the minister also talks at length about her proposal to actually publish—basically, for want of a better word—a water recovery strategy. She will publish a public implementation schedule for the recovery of the 450 by 30 June next year. But how is she going to develop that public implementation schedule? What consultations will she have in devising that?

Last week, I and my colleagues held a press conference on the passage of the bill, outlining our disappointed that, in all of the amendments we considered, we did not include a robust socioeconomic test.

We did not amend to maintain the cap on buyback, and we did not get over the line a requirement to undertake a review and evaluate how to account for complementary measures—things like fishways, cold-water pollution management, riparian vegetation management and other things that deliver environmental outcomes on the ground.

In that press conference, I called on the government to, in developing their implementation schedule, please get together a committee of wise heads. Call in food processors, food manufacturers and the unions that represent those workers. I never thought I'd have to tell the Labor Party to consult with the unions, but that's what I'm doing. Call in the farming sector and, importantly, local government, and listen to them and their ideas of what a water recovery implementation schedule should look like. At the very least, give them the decency of talking to them then, because we know you didn't talk to them when drafting the water amendment bill. We know consultation was a series of four invite-only seminars to talk only about schedule 3 and an online webinar—one online webinar for the millions of people that live in the Murray Darling Basin, the small farm businesses, the food processors, the dairy manufacturers, and all of those people impacted by this bill.

At the very least, form that committee. I urge the Senate to support this motion so we can have a proper inquiry into the implications of the amendments that were rammed through this place without sufficient debate last week.