Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Cormann. The Murray-Darling Basin is in environmental collapse after years of mismanagement. We're facing a climate emergency, which will make, of course, droughts worse and more severe. Last summer we saw mass fish kills. Just in the last 48 hours, we've seen another one in the Menindee Lakes. Towns have run out of clean drinking water, and farmers cannot afford to buy water for their stock and crops. In response, the federal government, with their New South Wales colleagues, have decided to spend public money on building dams while overriding environmental and economic assessment. Building dams won't make it rain. In New South Wales, because of their laws, even if these dams are built, water allocation rules mean that the water won't be used for the community or the environment. All evidence shows public money for these dams will only deliver water for big corporate irrigators. Will the government release their cost-benefit analysis, or haven't they bothered to do it?