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

Thanks, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will refrain from speaking across the chamber to these continuing, rude interjections.

I will now refer to some of the substance of the amendments. The opposition want to narrow the definition of ‘critical human water needs’. This means that the security of crucial industrial water supply for key employers such as OneSteel in Whyalla is now in jeopardy. South Australian jobs will be at risk under the amendments they are proposing. The opposition want to reduce water supplies. They have moved an amendment to enforce a reduction over time in the amount of water taken from the basin to meet the needs of population centres outside the Murray-Darling Basin. This means that if you live in Adelaide, Port Pirie, Port Augusta, Whyalla, Keith or Ballarat and Ararat in Victoria then your water supplies will be progressively cut over time. The question then for the opposition is: how much do the opposition want to cut from the water supplies of these communities?

They want to block the Sugarloaf Pipeline. Members will recall that the Sugarloaf Pipeline was announced while Mr Turnbull, the now opposition leader, had responsibility in the previous government for water policy, but he did nothing to try to stop them. He did absolutely nothing to try to stop them. Now the opposition are conveniently ignoring—

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