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

As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia, my question is to Senator McKenzie, representing the Minister for Water Resources. Mr Littleproud has announced that the government will spend in excess of $1 billion on directing a further 450 gigalitres of so-called environmental flows into the Murray Darling Basin, known as sustainable diversion adjustment mechanism. This is water that would have otherwise been retained for agriculture or for groundwater replenishment. The Australian National Audit Office are currently conducting an inquiry into the procurement of strategic water entitlements, with their report due in December. Will the minister pause the SDL program until the audit report is made available and any recommendations are reflected in an updated Murray-Darling Basin Plan?

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Roberts, for your question and your ongoing interest in ensuring that the Murray-Darling Basin Plan rollout meets the needs of irrigators, the environment and the communities contained within the basin. As Minister Littleproud has made very clear, our government continues to work with state governments to roll out the plan in a way that least impacts on the ongoing financial viability of our agriculture sector and the communities that service that sector. And they're going through a very tough time. In your home state, sections of the Murray-Darling Basin proper have been in drought for upwards of six years. Right throughout the basin in New South Wales, again, drought is biting hard. It is difficult to have enough flows for high-security and low-security water entitlement holders when there is not enough water in the basin to go around.

To that end we have been able to negotiate, with Minister Littleproud securing agreement from state governments, a socioeconomic detriment test before any further water is to be removed from basin communities. That actually ensures there can be no further negative social outcomes or economic outcomes for these basin communities before more water is taken out. That is incredibly important because these communities are doing it tough at the moment, and we need to ensure that their ongoing viability is secured not just for those towns and businesses but, indeed, for the broader export task and sustainability of our nation's economic position, and the role that agriculture and the Murray-Darling Basin producers play in that.

Scott Ryan (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Roberts, a supplementary question?

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

Mr Littleproud has himself announced a $30 million inquiry into the science behind the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. Does the minister consider it appropriate to understand what the government is doing before doing it?

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) | Link to this | Hansard source

Government always seeks to use the very best science available on which to make policy decisions. You will recall this process was set in place many years ago. It has required state governments to also do a lot of work on constraints et cetera within their own jurisdictions. I remember when the plan first came into place and we didn't realise that the Barmah Choke was even going to be the constraint that it is on moving the volume of water that needs to go from one end of the basin to the other. So a lot of work has been done by state governments in all the jurisdictions affected and by government agencies to ensure that we are making the best decisions possible, given the available science. That will continue. It is not just the Murray-Darling Basin Authority who has conducted— (Time expired)

Scott Ryan (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Roberts, a final supplementary question?

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

The Murray-Darling Basin Plan has driven farmers to a class-action lawsuit against the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, seeking damages of $750 million. Last Thursday, 4,000 farmers protested on the banks of the Murray at Tocumwal against their water being sent to South Australia for, as some people say, recreational flows. They even threw an effigy of Minister Littleproud into the river. How much stronger does the opposition need to be before the minister pauses or kills the plan?

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) | Link to this | Hansard source

Indeed, 1,500 Victorian and New South Wales irrigators gathered in Tocumwal to express their views about how the Murray-Darling plan was being rolled out. It is tough out there. It is incredibly tough, and it is as a result of there being not enough water available in the consumptive pool to be distributed in a way that ensures farmers are able to grow their crops, communities are able to survive and the environment is able to get the water it needs and that it was agreed to get. At the end of the day, our government is committed to delivering the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, bearing in mind we sought to make significant changes to the original plan that was put forward, which would have seen double the water taken out of these communities. We don't want one more gigalitre to leave— (Time expired)