Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Environment and Water Resources. I refer to the report by Laura Tingle in today’s Australian Financial Review which details an assessment by people within the Murray-Darling Basin Commission of the government’s National Plan for Water Security, which says that the plan:

... neglects crucial questions of land title, resource management and environmental water flows and could be underfunded by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Does the minister agree with the concerns expressed that the organisation charged with running the basin will need ownership rights and that this will cost billions of dollars, which will severely reduce the amount available for other measures? Does the minister also agree with the advice provided by people within the commission that the Murray-Darling should be run at arm’s length from politicians? If not, how can the minister assure the Senate and the Australian people that the government will not succumb to National Party pressure to unduly favour irrigators?