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

We do think it is better, Senator Siewert, but what I would say—and I did not go into this—is that, of course, there are also provisions in the act which deal with water market reform, ACCC involvement in water market rules, water charge rules, and—from memory—the authority in terms of water-trading rules. So there are a range of water market reform measures which deal, in part, with some of the issues here. My concern is that if we start requiring that the minister, instead of all these various statutory bodies, determines a scheme, it actually cuts across some of that reform work. Senator Siewert’s amendment does deal with the issues that she raised, and we appreciate that, but I have to say, more broadly, that we do not think this is the way to go forward. We do recognise our obligations to work to improve transparency. I have outlined a range of mechanisms by which we are seeking to do that.