Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:43): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Water. Did the minister brief the Attorney-General that evidence presented to the royal commission questioned whether any water would be returned and water recovery would be overstated as a result of the purchases approved by the former minister Barnaby Joyce?

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (14:44): There were many items of evidence provided to the royal commission, many hundreds. I did not relate them all to the Attorney-General. In fact, of course, the veracity of some of those items had to go through the royal commission process to establish whether they were accurate or not, so I did not provide a running commentary to the Attorney-General on each and every aspect of the royal commission's process.