Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. The chairman of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority has publicly said that he advised the minister for water prior to the release of the guide that the authority’s interpretation of the Water Act put the environment ahead of social and economic factors. If so, why did the minister wait until after the release of the guide to seek his own legal advice? How can the Australian people have any confidence in the handling by the minister for water of this mess when he sat by and allowed a flawed guide to be released?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Sturt for the question. When that issue was first raised with me by Mike Taylor in a meeting which I think was held here in Parliament House, I asked the department to consider whether that was also their view. It was not.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Pyne interjecting

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was not their view and they spoke to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, advancing their opinion. There was a difference in opinion between my department and the authority, and I took the view at that point that the right thing to do was to get independent legal advice and to announce that, whatever it said, I would be releasing that advice publicly, which is what I did yesterday.