Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. Will the minister update the House on the progress of the Murray-Darling Basin reform?

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 member for Kingston for the question. The member for Kingston has been a champion of Murray-Darling reform. I am pleased to say that the reforms that were signed into law last year are locked in as of today. The disallowance period expires today. After a century of a tug of war between states, what was required was to get a moment in time when politicians from around the country were willing to accept that the negotiation could only be won by the rivers themselves. Whether it was the communities that were reliant on the rivers, producers who were reliant on the rivers or those who care about the environment seeing the degradation of the rivers, it was only ever going to be solved when the negotiation was won not by any one state but by the Murray-Darling Basin.

In doing that, that moment in time that was required began late last year, when, after the plan had been signed into law, this parliament voted in massive numbers to keep the plan in place. That moment concludes today, where the disallowance period expires. It is now clear that after inaction and challenge for more than a century we have a situation where a century of degradation now turns the corner and, year after year after year, we see the Murray-Darling Basin being restored to health.

There are many members of the community who deserve acknowledgement for their part in a long-run campaign.

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

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

I have acknowledged members of the opposition before. You do not get overwhelming numbers in a parliament like this without a level of bipartisanship. But I will also say that none of us deserve more credit than Henry Jones, who is in the parliament today. He is a fisherman from down in the Lower Lakes in Coorong, down near Goolwa, who has been a champion of Murray-Darling reform for a long time. He has been the face of the advertisers' campaign to save the Murray and deserves great credit for achieving what activists for a century had failed to.

For those traditional owners, for the communities who were involved in the consultation and for the many people who have seen a challenge that has always been out of reach, it is important for us to acknowledge that this has been the parliament that has solved what no other parliament could. This has been the parliament that has guaranteed that the Murray-Darling Basin will be restored to health and that the degradation of the past is now a thing of the past.