Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Wong. I ask the minister: given the dire situation facing local communities dependent on the Lower Lakes and the Coorong in our home state of South Australia, will her government support the coalition’s proposal to establish a $50 million emergency assistance fund to provide immediate assistance to the local people, businesses, community and wildlife of the Lower Lakes?

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

Thank you, Mr President. I, also, congratulate both you and Senator Ferguson on your election and add my strong support for both of those results. I thank Senator Minchin for his question and start by making the point that the situation in the Lower Lakes is extremely serious. The government is acutely aware of that. It is a situation which is driven by three factors. The first is a history of overallocation—a history of inaction by governments such as the one comprised of those opposite. There was a failure to address the overallocation of the Murray-Darling Basin while they were in government. There was not a single drop of water purchased by the Howard government for the purposes of restoring the health of the Murray-Darling. That is the first situation.

The second factor is the unprecedented drought we are experiencing. The third factor is climate change, where unfortunately we are seeing historic low inflows and historic low rainfall, although I am sure we are all grateful there has been some rainfall around the Lower Lakes region in recent weeks. But we have had a period of extremely low rainfall and even lower inflow—that is, water flowing into the River Murray—which is exacerbating this problem. And this really presages what will happen if this country fails to deal with climate change. Just a statistic that emphasises where we are at: the two years prior to the Rudd government’s election had the lowest inflows into the River Murray in the nation’s history and they were in excess of 40 per cent lower than the previous lows.

So, what are we doing for the Lower Lakes? Well, we are not simply offering $50 million; we have put down $200 million for the South Australian government to develop an enduring response to the long-term environmental problems facing the Coorong and the Lower Lakes; we have already announced, in addition to that, $120 million for an integrated network of pipes to deliver water to irrigators and communities and to service townships. So $120 million is already announced and will be able to be rolled out as this project is developed, and $320 million is what this government has already put on the table.

Could I just make one point. I say to Senator Minchin, as a senator for South Australia—and I have no doubt, because I know Senator Minchin, that, despite the fact I disagree with him on many things, he generally puts his view very clearly—that I think it is incumbent upon him as the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate to be very clear with people in South Australia about precisely what the opposition’s position on this is. What is your position when it comes to the Lower Lakes? Is it as Dr Stone, in her press release on 2 July 2008, said:

The Rudd Labor Government and the State Labor Premiers must also come to grips with the reality of the drought: open the barrages to the Lower Lakes, restore that environment ...

What this exposes is the way in which those opposite yet again tell one thing to people down the river, downstream, and another thing to communities upstream—playing politics with people’s fears and refusing to address the problem. Senator Minchin, if that is not the opposition’s position, you should get up today in this question time and indicate absolutely that that is not your position. (Time expired)

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. The minister failed completely to answer my question, so I will ask it again: will the minister support the coalition’s proposal to provide immediately a $50 million emergency assistance fund to provide immediate assistance to the local people, businesses, community and wildlife of the Lower Lakes, which her party and government are treating with absolute contempt by the decision to not even bother running a candidate in the Mayo by-election?

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

I suggest to the Senate that treating communities with contempt is telling them on the one hand, when Senator Birmingham goes down to the Lower Lakes and Coorong, that you want all this environmental water bought while upstream Dr Stone is saying it should be flooded with salt water. We are already providing $320 million to the Lower Lakes. We are already doing that. We have already announced that, and we will work with that community—

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I rise on a point of order. Senator Wong knows that the coalition is totally opposed to the flooding of the Lower Lakes with sea water. I ask her to, instead of avoiding the question, answer the question: will she support our $50 million proposal for emergency assistance?

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order. As you know, I cannot direct a minister on how to answer a question. Senator Wong, you are aware of the question. You have 29 seconds to answer the question.

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

And the answer is: we are providing $320 million to these communities. We are providing $320 million to deal with these urgent issues. We are also attempting to deal, over the longer term, with the purchase of water, unlike those opposite, to ensure environmental flows. Again I say: those opposite, as the alternative government, should do better than giving one message to people downstream, in Adelaide, while telling those upstream something different. (Time expired)