Murray-Darling Basin Plan

Ms COOK (Fisher) (14:40): My question is to the Premier. What is the state Labor government doing to secure the health of the Murray-Darling Basin?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:40): This is an important public policy issue. Just a few hours ago—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Just a few hours ago, I—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Will the Premier be seated. The Premier hasn't had time to say anything provocative to the opposition and already there is a barrage of interjections. There are seven opposition members on full warnings; I will have to act if the Premier is interrupted in this answer. Premier.

Mr GARDNER: Sorry, sir, while there is a pause in the Premier's thoughts, under standing order 97 can you clarify whether the word 'Labor' is appropriate and in order?

The SPEAKER: I'm sorry?

Mr GARDNER: Is the Premier responsible for the government or the Labor government? Is the word 'Labor' in order under standing order 97?

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta's knowledge of parliamentary procedure I know transcends Erskine May—it probably goes back to a full understanding of the standing orders of the Witan—but that point of order has no merit of any kind. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Just a few hours ago, I received a letter from the Prime Minister, who was seeking to provide some comfort about the commitment of his government to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

Mr Duluk: Was Ian Hunter cc'd in?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: He was indeed. Well, I'm not sure; I'm sure he was. The letter seeks to provide some reassurance and points towards a COAG meeting next week, where we hope to make some progress in relation to that matter.

Mr Marshall: Who's going?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That will be me—COAG.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: You have to win an election to go to COAG.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's right.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer is warned.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Of course, the reason why the Prime Minister was put into this position—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mitchell is called to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The reason why the Prime Minister was put into this rather difficult position was because of the remarks that were made in a letter that the Deputy Prime Minister sent to Mr Hunter of 17 November 2016, where he said:

…If it was genuinely possible to put an additional 450 [gigalitres] down the river without hurting people, then none of us would have a problem with it. The reality is that it will…

I think the only way to resolve this is to see if there are other ideas, which would be mutually beneficial to South Australia and the broader Basin community…

I cannot foresee them agreeing to the additional 450 [gigalitres] of water can be delivered without significant social and economic detriment…

That was the problem. The Deputy Prime Minister indicated that he wanted to walk away—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is called to order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is warned.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is warned a second and final time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: What we have is the Deputy Prime Minister providing a rather substantial problem for the Prime Minister in talking about walking away from the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement. I just note in parentheses that when Mr Joyce was appointed water minister, I met with the Prime Minister and I said, 'This is a problem. This bloke doesn't believe in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.' The Prime Minister assured me, 'Don't worry about Barnaby. It will all be alright. I'll make sure it all gets delivered.' Okay, that's fine. So we get this letter to Ian Hunter. Then, of course, Ian Hunter calls out the breach famously—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Premier will be seated. The member for Davenport is out of control. The member for Davenport and the member for Wright are both called to order for asking the question about ice-cream that we all want answered. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Thank you Mr Speaker. Then, just a few moments before coming into question time, I had the pleasure of watching federal question time and saw the most extraordinary spectacle. After the Prime Minister, having sent this letter early in the day, we had the Deputy Prime Minister jump up in answer to a question from Mr Shorten, the Leader of the Opposition, where he says:

Mr Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to bring to light the fact we are dealing with a basin plan that was actually written by the Labor Party, a basin plan with all the incongruities which were orchestrated by the Labor Party.

He goes on in a longer answer and says:

...so all the problems are your problems.

So we have, first, a letter from the Deputy Prime Minister creating this whole problem about him backing away from the plan. The poor old Prime Minister has to write to me saying, 'We're committed to the plan in full and on time,' and now, just 10 minutes ago, he has been contradicted by the Deputy Prime Minister once again. You wonder why we have lost faith in this federal government to work with us to deliver this plan. That is why we need a campaign. What we don't need is the Leader of the Opposition flying to Canberra, seeking a photo opportunity and waving around a piece of paper—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Oh, that's right, yes: the Leader of the Opposition's thesis is that we're all on the same team. I've got some news for him: mate, he's not on the same team as us. And if you think that the New South Wales Liberal Party and the New South Wales Coalition are interested in sending any more water down this river, you are sadly mistaken. The only thing they understand is a campaign which embarrasses them into doing the right thing.

I know that those opposite came out of that meeting—the Leader of the Opposition looked like Neville Chamberlain leaving that meeting saying, 'It's peace in our time. I've had the discussion with the Prime Minister and everything is fine.' Well, it is going to require much more than his support. It's going to require his active opposition to the upstream states because fundamentally this is a question of leadership. It's a question of standing up for your state and making your voice heard, just as the Hon. Ian Hunter stood up for South Australia and made it clear that he did not accept this repudiation of the agreement.

He was prepared to stand up and in no uncertain terms communicate his displeasure about the repudiation of this agreement. We need to stand together as a state—irrigator and conservationist, city and country—to resist this attempt to walk away from this national agreement. It goes to the heart of leadership. It goes to the heart of the opposition leader's leadership, which has been increasingly described as weak leadership—weak leadership, somebody who doesn't know how to stand up for South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mitchell is warned a first and second time and the member for Chaffey dissented in my giving him a second warning. Since then, he has interjected almost continually during the Premier's answer, and I forgot to call the member for Goyder to order earlier. The member for Ashford.