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

As a servant of the people of Queensland and Australia, I want to discuss not only an addition to this bill, which would give it some teeth, but also the current state of the Murray-Darling Basin, to understand the context in which the inspector will be working. I also want to discuss the causes and the core issue before providing an interim solution. Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says this legislation declares war on South Australia. Then she adds personal attacks. Why the continued lack of data and facts? Why the continued smears and personal attacks? Why the continued appeal to emotions? It's because she lacks data and lacks facts as a solid base for her position.

The Water Act 2007 and the Murray-Darling Basin Plan are an attack on Australia. It's repeatedly specified throughout the Water Act, three or four times, that its aims include compliance with international agreements. Why are we specifying compliance with international agreements as an aim for a water act governing our country? I know of prominent Liberals who now regret voting in favour of the Water Act. The war on Australia, through the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, is based on lies and misinformation. South Australian drains are taking water straight out of the basin and dumping it into the great Southern Ocean. The Coorong, as a result, has become polluted. Lake Alexandrina is a mess because they have not maintained its natural state and have continued to abandon the science. It is devastating southern Queensland, southern New South Wales and northern Victoria. The Murray-Darling Basin Plan now appeases large corporate agriculture. It devastates the Barmah Choke and the Murray River itself. So much for giving life to the basin.

We've travelled across the whole basin. We've flown over it and gone across it on the ground, listening to people in the south and in the north, in South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales. I have felt the frustration, the anger, the incredible hopelessness, the devastation and the stunned incredulity of people in southern New South Wales. In towns like Moulamein I was nearly brought to tears just listening to the people. In Dirranbandi, similar. In Wilcannia, people are feeling devastated, angry, frustrated, hurt and lonely. People are needing honesty, integrity, support, understanding, certainty, some security, some reassurance, some confidence, some competence—they cannot see the competence in the way it is governed—leadership, care, hope and respect. They want to be free to get on with their lives and have fulfilling livelihoods. Above all, the people right across the basin want to be heard and want to be treated with respect with objective data so that they can see what's coming. Farmers, families, communities and whole regions need this care.

I want to thank the many people who turn up to community gatherings to voice their concerns to us and give us their ideas and solutions—hundreds of people at a time. Whole communities turn out, because we listen, and they know, through our actions in parliament, on social media and in person, that we care, we work and we take action. We thank the people across the Murray-Darling Basin for their support and their encouragement.

Let's look for a minute at what others are doing in creating a bigger, deeper and messier mess. The Greens environmental vandalism is stealing more water and saying to frogs, 'this is environmental water' and 'this is farm water'. It gets into the environment, but it doesn't matter. They're just destroying livelihoods and causing environmental problems in South Australia and have been since 1864. Labor is seeking votes in South Australia, sacrificing our country in a grab for power. The Liberals are looking after their moneyed mates in corporate agriculture and around Lake Alexandrina. The Nationals are sleepily awakening after One Nation has exposed the Murray-Darling Basin Plan's flaws for five years. First of all the Nationals tried to ignore us then they tried to ridicule us then they tried to misrepresent what we exposed and then they pretended to address what we exposed in their sham actions, which we exposed again.

All we do is keep on getting the facts. We keep on getting the facts. Now the Nationals are desperately trying to bring back in Barnaby Joyce, the counterproductive, to counter Mr Michael McCormack, the unproductive. The ultimate cause of this mess is decisions, policies and party positions based on ideology, emotion, state partisanship, grubbily and dishonestly grabbing votes and ignoring or contradicting the data. This lack of objectivity makes it ripe for divergence and misrepresentations.

The core issue is atrocious governance. Let's look at Mr Barnaby Joyce's behaviour. You decide for yourself. Ask Queensland farmers what they think of him selling them out and being a circus performer to get media attention while a senator. He was the most colourful speaker, and I give him full credit for his words against the climate scam. But then he entered cabinet and let Malcolm Turnbull spend $400 million of taxpayer funds on wind turbines. He splashed them across his electorate to try and beat Tony Windsor. Then, when we entered the Senate, we called out the same person who has been a sceptic and then became a climate alarmist, and he eventually went quiet. Then he exited cabinet and now he's whispering messages implying he may be a sceptic again. Really? He's now indicating he may be thinking of standing up because One Nation is attracting people who put Australia first.