Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

I oppose this motion. The essence of flood plain water licences seems to have eluded Senator Hanson-Young. Licences to pump water in a flood happen only, unsurprisingly, in a flood. Once the floodwaters soak into the ground, there's no pumping allowed. What this motion says is that Queensland farmers who have waited up to 10 years for a flood should be prevented from pumping the water that they have a legal right to access. How many more farmers do the Greens want to put out of business? Meanwhile, the farmers Senator Hanson-Young wants to receive these floodwaters in South Australia are already on a 100 per cent allocation. One Nation does agree that we need an urgent audit of floodwater harvesting in the northern basin, but to stop extraction until that audit is completed demonstrates a contempt for the property rights of farmers in my state of Queensland.