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

I am reminded of a press release from Mr Turnbull, who said he did not want us to purchase water, except he wanted temporary water for the Lower Lakes. The point is this: we have a $3.1 billion investment to purchase entitlement to reduce the ongoing extraction from the river. As Senator Hanson-Young knows, we have pressures across the basin. We also know that where we are likely to end up in terms of the Murray-Darling will demonstrate that our extraction levels are significantly above what a sustainable cap will be. So the policy question is: how do we reduce that? The fact is that purchasing entitlement is the best way to reduce that. If we purchased temporary water, I am sure that the Greens would also be critical of the government for not reducing extraction at other parts of the river. We have to think long term, we have to reduce how much we are extracting, we have to achieve maximum environmental benefit for that money, and the government is focused— (Time expired)