Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to stand in this place to debate the motion that has been put to the Senate by Senator Hanson-Young. Can I say at the outset how tremendously disappointed I am, on behalf of my colleagues, my communities and my people in South Australia, that once again our river communities are going to be pawns in a political battle in the lead-up to an election.

We saw last year in the lead-up to the South Australian election that the Murray-Darling Basin was foremost on the agenda of political debate and, immediately following that, we heard no more. Standing here today on the eve of an election and once again seeing it pop into this parliament, with this motion to debate an issue in relation to the Murray-Darling Basin, I would have to question the motivation of those who are seeking to put this forward. There is no doubt whatsoever that there has been a track record of questionable timing in relation to this particular issue.

Senator Farrell interjecting —

I hear Senator Farrell on the other side, calling out across the chamber. One of the things I would like to do is take Senator Farrell on a journey with me as an irrigator. I hear you come from Murray Bridge. I was wondering how much time you've actually spent on the river in recent times, Senator Farrell. Do you sit on your front deck and watch the river flow past every day? Have you spent your summer holidays sitting on the River Murray, speaking to irrigators? Have you spent time talking—

Senator Farrell interjecting—

I think you spend an awful lot of time in Clare, Senator Farrell, which is a lovely part of South Australia. It grows great wine, and it uses water from the Murray-Darling Basin to grow that great wine in South Australia. I would just like to point out that the crops that are grown across the whole of the Murray-Darling Basin, including the crop that Senator Farrell grows in Clare to make his beautiful wine as well as the roses that he planted last year, which he tells me are blooming beautifully again—they all come from the Murray-Darling Basin, and that's the food bowl of—