The Labor party won't be supporting this motion, although we do agree that the government needs to explain how it's going to deal with the problems of water speculation as they've been in government for six years and they're not addressing the many significant issues of the Murray-Darling Basin. But we also acknowledge that water market design is complex. There are many consequences, including for families and farmers that live in that area. That complexity can't be dealt with through this motion.

We urge the Greens to consider bringing back subjects like this to areas where the entire Senate can debate and put forward different views. These aren't straightforward or simple subjects, and it's very difficult to support this motion because of that.