Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the answers given by Senator Wong to my questions in relation to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and the 450 gigalitres that was promised to South Australia, that is legally required to be delivered under law and that to date has only had two gigalitres returned. As we know, under the last government, the Liberal-National government, there was a desire to slow down, to sabotage and to stop that 450 gigalitres being delivered. There was never a genuine commitment from the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government in relation to making sure South Australia got that water, or that the water was made available to save the river and to look after the environment.

I must say, as a South Australian, it is just absolutely galling to find out again that it has been mismanaged so appallingly and that money has been wasted, with billions of dollars spent on bogus infrastructure projects. So the money has been poured down the drain, the water hasn't been secured and we are edging towards the deadline by which this plan is meant to be fulfilled. We are now staring down the barrel of this plan being in breach of the law, and South Australia and the lower reaches of the Murray suffering as a result.

Of course, this was failure by design—failure by design from those opposite, who never intended to make sure that that water for the environment was secured. They're too interested in looking after the interests of their big corporate irrigator mates than in doing what is right by everybody else—upstream, downstream, the small farmers and, of course, the environment, and those of us who live at the end of the river system, who desperately need a living river, a healthy river, for our own water supply.

It is now a challenge for the current government, the Labor government, which promised also to make sure this water would be delivered in time and, I might add, in full. It is now a challenge to the Labor government to get out there and start buying the water, because it's the only way it's going to be secured. I'm not a huge fan of the Productivity Commission. I think that from time to time they come up with some good ideas, but their analysis on this is crystal clear. The Productivity Commission themselves have said over and over again that the most economically efficient and environmentally effective way to ensure this water is secured for South Australia and the survival of the river is to buy it—to buy it. But despite that advice, we still have, after a decade, minister after minister sitting on their hands and refusing to go into the market to buy off willing sellers and return that water to the river. The challenge is now on. After a decade of mismanagement and failure by design, water thieving, scratching the backs of their big corporate mates from the Liberal-National Party—and let's not forget that when Mr Barnaby Joyce was water minister it was his great big idea to make sure that this plan would fail—we now have a challenge to the current government, that they have a responsibility to fix it. And the clock is ticking.

I've heard the response from the minister today, and I welcome it, that voluntary buybacks are on the table. Don't wait any longer. Get out there now and start buying the water, because we are running out of time. We need the water bought, secured and delivered, because our Murray River is the lifeblood of our nation's food bowl. It is the lifeblood particularly in South Australia. And if the Labor Party wish to continue to hold that new seat that they have in South Australia, the seat of Boothby, then bet your bottom dollar they're going to have to make sure they secure that water for South Australia, and secure it now.