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

( I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) the winter crop is failing along the Murray River irrigation area owing to poor winter rains,

  (ii) if this crop fails, farmers who have invested in plantings will be in serious financial difficulty and the regional communities they support will be devastated,

  (iii) the potential loss of wheat and fodder will take food off the tables of consumers nationally, and necessitate food imports, eventually leading to higher prices for everyday Australians, and

  (iv) currently there is 3,600 GL of water in storage in the Hume and Dartmouth dams – the spring snow thaw and rains have started and the inflow into those dams has begun; and

(b) calls on the Minister for Water Resources, Drought, Rural Finance, Natural Disaster and Emergency Management, (Mr Littleproud) to immediately release 200 GL of water from storage, for irrigation by general security licence holders to save the winter crop and to save rural communities.

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Leave not granted.

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) | Link to this | Hansard source

( I seek leave to make a short statement.

The PRESIDENT: Leave is granted for one minute.

Labor will not be supporting this motion. The real solution here is for the Morrison government to come up with a proper drought package for all drought affected communities rather than to have more committees. All Australians would be concerned by the reports of towns facing the possibility of running out of water, and the potential for suffering and distress as a consequence. After six years of inaction on water security, the government must act now to help those communities running out of water. The problem here is that, despite being in office for six years, the government has failed to act beyond establishing a range of committees and positions. We've had a drought envoy, a drought coordinator, a drought task force and a drought summit, and now we're told the Morrison government will establish a Water Grid Authority. Rural Australia does not need committees or task forces; it needs help to endure one of the most serious challenges to the viability of some of our great inland towns and regional centres. The Prime Minister is out of touch. He needs to get to work on a practical plan to cope with the drought crisis.

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

( I seek leave to make a short statement.

The PRESIDENT: Leave is granted for one minute.

The Greens will not be supporting this motion. While I understand that there is huge heartache in many parts of the Murray-Darling Basin and that small family farms have their back against the wall, that is the fault, of course, of this government, with six years of mismanagement. If you really want to find someone to blame, it's Mr Barnaby Joyce, who took water from the environment—he bragged about it—to give to his big corporate mates. Until we crack down on big corporate cotton sucking up all the water and leaving nothing for anyone else, we are not going to be able to solve this problem.

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

The question is that the motion moved by Senator Roberts be agreed to.