Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

Clearly, there are a range of discussions in government—and Senator Minchin knows this—that ministers and the Prime Minister have on these issues. What is important is what the government has done. On 14 August we announced programs that you never implemented in government—programs for the purchase of water, which is still an issue that causes division in your party room. The reality is that what has been provided to the Senate through the inquiry process is a greater level of accountability than has ever been given by ministers when you on the other side were in government. What is demonstrated today in this question time is the absolute lack of ability of the opposition to deal with the hard policy issue that is the Murray-Darling Basin.