Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make a contribution in this debate. First and foremost, I want to put on the record that the current shadow spokesman, Mr Tony Burke, has an impeccable record in this area of portfolio responsibility. The previous Labor minister, Senator Wong, also had a very outstanding record in this area.

If there are people in the Senate who don't understand the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, I commend the contribution to the National Press Club in 2012 made by the then Minister Burke. He clearly sets out the entire history and evolvement of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. One thing that particularly struck me, just to demonstrate his environmental credentials, was the contribution he made in a couple of paragraphs there. He said:

… it was in 1991 when the game changer arrived and a new player turned up to the negotiating table. In 1991 the new player arrived with a blue-green algae outbreak that went for one thousand kilometres and the environment turned up to the negotiating table and proved to be more ruthless and less compromising than any of the states. The environment turned up to the negotiating table in 1991 and said, if you're going to manage the river this way then none of you can have the water. Effectively, the rivers decided collectively that if we were going to manage the water as though it stopped at state boundaries then the water was willing to stop …

So the environmental credentials of the shadow minister and former minister, in my view, are absolutely impeccable. He does understand the whole range of complexity in this century-old plan. We have to get it right.

The contribution from Senator Hanson-Young, I thought, was more parochial and more provocative than normal. If she has a preselection problem in South Australia, she shouldn't bring it in here and talk about it in this section. Don't bring it and talk about it in here as a disallowance motion.

The Labor Party's credentials, I believe, are impeccable. Our spokesperson is across all of the issues. In my view, we went through the appropriate processes, with consultation and caucus agreement, and we struck a deal. The deal is simply this: we will not support the Disallowance of the Basin Plan Amendment (SDL Adjustments) Instrument 2017 for the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, nor will we support a future disallowance motion on the Northern basin review. This decision by the Labor Party means that the delivery of the full Murray-Darling Basin Plan will be back on track with new levels of compliance and transparency. This agreement means that the 450 gigalitres is back on track and will start to be accumulated, and the compliance will return to the northern basin.

Senator Hanson-Young did make some useful comments: the compliance was in question in the northern basin. I've seen that evidence. I've seen the Four Corners review. I've participated in hearings up and down the Darling and the Murray rivers. We do know that certain areas of the river are better at compliance enforcement and the use of efficient measures and infrastructure than others, but this agreement means we will be back on track. In reaching this decision Labor has been mindful of ensuring that all elements of the plan will be properly implemented, the independence of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority will be preserved and the demands that we put forward in February of 2018 will be met.

Legitimate questions have been posed regarding the content of the Northern Basin Review and the SDL adjustment mechanism. The best way to deal with these concerns is through improved transparency and new auditing and compliance requirements to ensure a healthy working basin. Labor has also determined to make sure that decisions about the volumes required to restore the health of the river system are determined by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and do not instead become the subject of daily amendment through the political process. The proper people should be in charge, and they are the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.

Labor has an assurance around the government's commitment to deliver 450 gigalitres of environmental water through efficiency measures. We have assurances that the concerns regarding the quality of projects to deliver the 605 gigalitres of environmental equivalent outcomes will be resolved, as will be the need for taxpayer funded environmental water to be used for environment purposes, a comprehensive response to the allegations of corruption and water theft in the northern basin, Indigenous consultation and engagement in water planning and governance, and the accuracy of data in modelling assumptions. The government has provided a new package of measures, which provides Labor with sufficient confidence that the basin plan is back on track. These measures include the commencement of the recovery of 450 gigalitres of environmental water through an expression of interest and assurance that the 605 gigalitres will be delivered by linking payments for supply measures with efficiency measures for the 450 gigalitres for the environment. Critically, this means that the 450 gigalitres, which was put in doubt by the former water minister, Barnaby Joyce, is now back on the table and the process to acquire the water will now commence.

This package of measures also means that there is a serious response to the allegations of water theft in the northern basin, which had the potential to undermine the foundations in the water market on which the plan rests. These include the protection of environmental water through daily extraction limits; embargoes on irrigation pumping during environmental water releases; metering and no meter, no pump rules; and a new northern basin commissioner.

Labor will commit to strengthening the SDL reconciliation process, and we will work with stakeholders about the best way to do this, whether it is through a legislative change or guaranteeing the independence of the reconciliation. If upon reconciliation the projects did not deliver the full 605 gigalitres, Labor would make up the shortage through a buyback. This puts the Murray-Darling Basin Plan back on a solid footing to a brighter pathway for the river's return to health.

That is Labor's position in a nutshell. I absolutely and categorically reject all of the assertions that were made about Labor's position by the senator for the Greens party. We have a way forward which has integrity. We are represented by the best people in the shadow cabinet in this area. They have a long track record and history. They understand and have environmental concerns in their DNA, so to speak. If you do want to find out or know a little more about the history of this plan, I commend the National Press Club speech by the Hon. Tony Burke.