Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Hanson-Young for the question. I can give an emphatic yes to Senator Hanson-Young. Yes, I have supreme confidence that this government will continue to look after the interests of the Murray-Darling Basin. I have supreme confidence that this government will deliver on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, because the National Party and the Liberal Party are the parties that came together in the Howard government and brought the Water Act to fruition. The National Party and the Liberal Party stood as one in the opposition years, when the Murray-Darling Basin plan was adopted.

I can remember who voted against the adoption of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, and it was not the members of the Labor Party, it was not the members of the Liberal Party and it was not the members of the National Party; it was the members of the Australian Greens. The Australian Greens were the ones who stood in the way of the adoption of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. The Australian Greens were the ones who did not want to have sound progress in relation to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

I worked very closely with Mr Joyce in the last parliament. He was the shadow minister for water during that time. I was the shadow parliamentary secretary working with him, and, to be honest, we learnt a lot from each other. I learnt about the interests of upstream irrigators and he learnt about the interests of South Australia, and that was a very effective relationship.

I have supreme confidence that, if Barnaby Joyce is the agriculture minister, going forward, and has responsibility for water, we will see effective water management in Australia and we will see the Murray-Darling Basin Plan delivered, but delivered in a way that ensures Australia's irrigators, including South Australia's irrigators, have absolute rights and security over their water entitlements in the future as well.