address to parliament - BILLS - Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill 2023 - Consideration in Detail

Consideration in detail, schedules 1 and 2—this is bad policy.

The SPEAKER: The member for Riverina, you are entitled to speak on this regarding Ms Sharkie's amendment.

Mr McCORMACK: I'll speak to the amendments, and the amendments include buybacks. The amendments include—

The SPEAKER: Order. The amendment that we're dealing with before the House is schedule 1, page 10, line 29, after item 20, regarding annual progress reports. It is not about buybacks; this is a detailed amendment about what has been moved before the House.

Mr McCORMACK: Annual progress reports also affect buybacks. They do. They go to the point where the buybacks that are going to be put into place, which are unnecessary, will be part of what the member for Mayo's amendment includes. Yes, we all want progress as to where we are, and we would all like to see annual updates. But those annual updates should not include amounts of water taken unfairly out of the river communities, out of the productive communities, out of those communities which grow food. As the Nationals leader has just clearly enunciated, this is nasty policy, this is lazy policy and this is typical Labor policy. We were in process—we were in progress, and you can—

The SPEAKER: The member for Riverina will resume his seat. The contents of this debate are specifically, under the standing orders, regarding the specific amendments about financial reports. I know where he is going with this, and I'm trying to be reasonable, but, under the standing orders, he can't talk about history or other topics. This is specifically about what is before the House in this amendment, which is quite narrow. The member for Riverina has the call.

Mr McCORMACK: With all due respect to you, they are annual progress reports on buybacks. The annual progress reports will include an annual update on water taken out of the productive system, which is code for 'buybacks'—which is buybacks.

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

Mr McCORMACK: Well, it's projects. Thank you, water minister. It is projects which were in place. It's progress and projects which were in place with the neutrality test and which were in place with the clear say-so of states which the former government was working with very closely—Labor states included, noting very carefully and in a very considered way that Victoria is not part of the plans that are in place to change the entire Murray-Darling Basin Plan. A Labor state!

Yes, we want progress. We do want progress reports. We do want updates, but we don't want to see updates on water buybacks because we don't want to see buybacks. That's because buybacks are going to take more productive water. When we have a cost-of-living crisis, we do not want to see everyday, ordinary Australians and families paying more at the checkout for their fresh food and groceries. That's what will happen. The member for Lyons can shake his head all he likes, but that is what will happen. When you take more productive water out of the system, the price of food will go up. And the buybacks will see, yes, farmers selling their water.

Once the Commonwealth enters the water market, it distorts the price of water. The price of water goes up and everybody suffers. They sincerely do. Farmers take the money and run, and they leave communities like Jerilderie, Cobram, Griffith, Narrandera, Leeton, Coleambally and Whitton, where the Indigenous affairs minister is from. She would well know how important this is to a community such as Whitton, in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. We don't want to see those effects on communities which are already crippled by hardships and which are still getting over the last drought. Let me tell you: this will cause another drought—a man-made drought. A drought will be brought on by none other than the member for Sydney, the water minister. This is so unnecessary. Yes, progress reports are important, but buybacks should not be part of the current or future Basin Plan.