Grant Chapman (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I direct my question to the Minister for Climate Change and Water. When did the minister or her department receive the report by scientists, to which reference was made on today’s AM program, warning of a critical six-month window to save key parts of the ailing Murray-Darling Basin?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can tell the chamber that this government is keenly and acutely aware of the concerns and the problems associated with the lower lakes and the Coorong, which are really a function of the dire situation in which we find ourselves across the Murray-Darling Basin.

Grant Chapman (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I rise on a point of order. I asked a very specific question to the minister which the minister is not even beginning to answer with the direction that she is taking. I ask you to direct the minister to answer the question.

Alan Ferguson (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister is 21 seconds into her answer and I think she should be allowed to develop her answer.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What I was going to say is that this report is amongst a number of reports and comments in the public arena over many years about the state of the Coorong, about the state of the lower lakes and the state of the River Murray. This report, as was discussed today in the media, was provided to the ministerial council in May. But I would stress that this is one of a range of issues that the government is aware of when it comes to the Coorong and when it comes to the lower lakes. That is why the ministerial council has commissioned the Murray-Darling Basin Commission to provide advice on a range of management strategies for the lower lakes, which I believe I have spoken about previously in this chamber. It is why we have also allocated $6 million for urgent pumping into Lake Albert, to deal with the acid sulphate situation in that lake as an urgent measure. More broadly, the issues associated with the Coorong and the lower lakes are a symptom of the problems that the River Murray is experiencing, and those problems—

Rod Kemp (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Do something about it.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will take that interjection. Senator Kemp says, ‘Do something about it.’ I am about to tell him what we are doing. This is a situation which arises as a result of, firstly, climate change and the fact that climate change is impacting on rainfall availability through the Murray-Darling Basin. They scoff on the other side of the chamber, but we know from the CSIRO, from the sustainable yield study, that it is quite clear that we have a significant problem in the Murray-Darling Basin as a result of both climate change and drought. So what can we do about this? What the government have done is this: first, the government achieved a historic agreement with the basin states at the COAG in March, for the first time in this nation’s history, to manage this basin as a whole, to reflect the fact that rivers run across borders—something you never achieved. What else is the government doing? Second, we are allocating $3.1 billion to purchase water for the River Murray and we have already started spending that to return water to the river, to deal with exactly the sorts of environmental problems that the Coorong and lower lakes are having. That is something you never did.

Through you, Mr President, if Senator Chapman is serious about assisting the lower lakes and the Coorong, he needs to talk to some of his people on that side, members and senators in the opposition who still do not agree with the idea of purchasing water for the river. We know that Mr Cobb has said that we should not be doing this or has raised concerns about it. We know that Senator Joyce said in estimates hearings that he does not agree with the long-term target of returning 1,500 gigalitres to the River Murray. If you, the opposition, are to have any credibility on the issue of water then you need to deal with those on your side who oppose the government purchasing water to return it to the river, as we need to do to deal with the environmental problems we confront.

Grant Chapman (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I regret the minister’s failure to answer the primary question I asked. Perhaps she will do better with this one. Why has the minister ignored the warnings of scientists that action needs to be taken by October this year at the very latest? Why did the minister agree to decisions being delayed until November when scientists have warned that this will be too late to save the Murray-Darling Basin?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is incorrect. The government, unlike the government which preceded us, do listen to scientific advice. I would like to make the point that we have already had officials from the Murray-Darling Basin states meet in Adelaide to examine this urgent problem. I make the point again that the best thing we can do for the health of the river, whether that is the lower lakes or the Coorong, is to return water to the river. So, Senator Chapman—through you, Mr President—if the opposition are to have any credibility on this issue they need to deal with the opposition in their own ranks to returning water to the river.