Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Hansard source

I move general business notice of motion No. 1080:

That the Senate—

(a) notes:

(i) farmers in the Murray-Darling Basin produce $24 billion worth of food and fibre per year, and

(ii) 2,029 gigalitres of water has been recovered from the consumptive pool under the Basin Plan; this represents a significant proportion of the consumptive water available in the Basin and has a major impact on agricultural productivity;

(b) congratulates:

(i) the Morrison-McCormack Government on the decision to close the inefficient Water Efficiency Program and pivot to off-farm water recovery, spurring an infrastructure boom across the Basin, and

(ii) the Morrison-McCormack Government on listening to communities and putting actions in place to reduce impacts from buy backs; and

(c) calls for the Minister to work with states to prioritise off-farm efficiency projects that invest in regional communities.

Question agreed to.