Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

For those who are used to counting, may I remind the opposition that in 2001 they were in specific receipt of information from the snapshot survey by the Murray-Darling Basin Commission of the impact of environmental degradation on the Murray-Darling Basin. In 2002 they were in receipt of the report from the Australian Greenhouse Office called Living with climate change, which again showed beyond any shadow of a doubt that there were significant risks to the health of the Murray-Darling Basin, yet in all that time the opposition were not able to deliver a single drop of water to the Murray-Darling Basin. The Leader of the Opposition had two years in the water portfolio and he did not deliver any recoverable water for the Murray-Darling Basin system. The opposition had 12 years to take national leadership on water and it failed. This government in four months began to take robust and comprehensive action on bringing health back to the Murray-Darling Basin, and we will continue on that course in the interests of the nation.

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