Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

This is the trouble when you write a supplementary question before you have listened to the answer. I just informed the Senate that the Commonwealth is investing in excess of $700 million in the Murray-Darling Basin to ensure the health of those wetlands. We are spending money to pump water into those wetlands to restore the river red gums to make sure the habitat for threatened species that use those red gums have a chance of survival in this, one of the worst droughts in Australian history.

I also said that we are spending money on the Gwydir wetlands and we want to ensure that the water actually goes there. That is the commitment of the Australian government. We believe that you can satisfactorily and sensibly balance the agricultural interests, the interests of the people who earn their money off the land and provide the food to put onto our tables and earn export incomes, and also deliver historic levels of investment to environmental repair, including along the Murray river. The report that was released today shows that environmental expenditure under this government has quadrupled over what Labor and the Greens would have supported 10 years ago. That is a substantial achievement we should be proud of and not denigrated for. (Time expired)