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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

Despite what we've been hearing for the a number of weeks about the failure of the coalition government on delivery of the Basin Plan, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority's Basin Plan report 2020-21 categorically proves that wrong. This reports shows that, under the coalition government, we have continued water recovery, despite the focus of the last few weeks on one clause in one section of the Basin Plan. We now have a long-term average yield of 2,100 gigalitres of held entitlements. We have ensured that, when sustainable diversion limits came into play in 2019, the first year of monitoring of those sustainable diversion limits—this is before even old water recovery targets and additional targets have been met. This report shows that we are 97 per cent compliant with the sustainable diversion limits. There were three zones or valleys which were found to be non-compliant but two of which had valid, reasonable excuses. All three have implemented make-good actions to bring that back into line.

I pose the question: if we are already compliant with sustainable diversion limits, why do we need to race forth and pursue continued water recovery at the expense of the social and economic stability of our communities? That's not to say that we shouldn't continue to consider sound, strategic and ecologically sustainable projects that will deliver environmental outcomes. Thirty of the 37 supply measures, or SDL adjustment mechanism projects, are on track. Our government was investing in new knowledge to understand the risks of the basin, including risks associated with climate change.

We invested in this new knowledge. We were working with the CSIRO. I note I applaud the new government's commitment to continue to look at new science under the basin plan. Ninety-eight per cent of the surface water recovery targets under the basin plan have been recovered if we meet all of our obligations. That is a lot different from the view that has been pursued over the last couple of weeks that the coalition government turned its back on the basin plan—far from it. What we did do, however, was turn our faces to the communities in the Murray-Darling Basin. We listened to those communities and we adjusted our programs in response to what the communities were telling us. They were telling us that buyback hurts. Open-tender buyback hurts communities. So we moved away from that.

We focused on, at first, on-farm efficiency measures and then off-farm efficiency measures. We delivered an awful lot of water entitlements to the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder as a result of that. In the last year's reporting from the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, we saw, in this same period that this report covers, 10 years of continuous connection between the Murray Lower Lakes and the Coorong. That is 10 years despite going back to a very significant drought that saw New South Wales general security irrigators on zero water allocations—that's zero; no access to water—for two years running. The Coorong and the Lower Lakes remained connected.

Far beyond what has been asserted—that the basin plan is failing because our government failed on the basin plan—I assert that the basin plan and this report shows that the basin plan is achieving good outcomes, the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder's reports also show that and our pathway of listening to communities was the right pathway to be on.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I join the senator in moving that the Senate take note of document No. 2 Murray-Darling Basin Authority and I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted.

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Hanson-Young, I seek leave to continue the remarks on this document.

Leave granted.