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

The first issue that has obviously been important is that the states have agreed to a Commonwealth takeover of basin planning. That is the first and most important historic agreement achieved. But obviously there are many areas where we need state governments to continue the reform process and one of them is removing the barriers to trade in the water market. We on this side are clear: water should go where it is most highly valued. I welcome the legislative change in Victoria to remove the 10 per cent limit on the amount of water in a district that can be held by non-landowners. This delivers on the agreement between Prime Minister Rudd and Premier Brumby. This delivers on our continued series of reforms in the Murray-Darling. Again, this is an area where we see the opportunism of those opposite. We have a press release from Dr Stone calling moves to scrap the four per cent cap—another trade restriction—a ‘cruel attack’. (Time expired)