Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC) Share this | Hansard source

You may be now. You were not back then, as I recall, Senator Brandis. Prime Minister Howard gave $10 billion to the then minister, Minister Turnbull, to fix the problem. But of course he could not fix it. He did not have the skills to fix it.

Senator Brandis interjecting—

Well, let's be clear about this. We got the Murray-Darling Basin Plan through—Senator Wong, Tony Burke and I, as the Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water at the time. We got this plan through the parliament. What is happening now is that this government is on the cusp of ripping up the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

Okay, there has been a little bit of rain in the system, but the whole point of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is not to deal with circumstances when there is rain. The whole point of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is to deal with the droughts and the dreadful circumstances, particularly in South Australia, that happened to the communities along the Murray-Darling Basin.

What we need to do is to have a strong Prime Minister in this country. We need a strong—

Senator Brandis interjecting—

I can see you are agreeing with me, Senator Brandis, because you know what I am saying is true. You know that this is not a strong Prime Minister. He is a weak Prime Minister. He has caved in once again to the Nationals. He has caved in on so many occasions and he is caving in on this one. He is failing to pull the Deputy Prime Minister into line. He is failing to pull him into line and the consequences could be catastrophic for the great Murray-Darling Basin. If this Prime Minister does not restore some of his authority and say to the Deputy Prime Minister—

Senator Brandis interjecting—

Well, it is starting to look that way—he does not have any authority, I am afraid to say. It is starting to look like he has no authority and he is unable to do what he needs to do. He has to pull the Deputy Prime Minister into line. He has to come in and back the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, and he has to do it quickly. (Time expired)