Murray-Darling Basin Plan

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:56): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Water. Will the government today commit to pursuing SA's constitutional water rights through the High Court of Australia?

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (14:56): I am not in a position to make that commitment today. We have a very clear pathway forward with the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, and that involves keeping that plan intact, keeping the other jurisdictions at the table and getting water into the river.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left! You asked your question.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: It is not in order to respond to interjections, but the Leader of the Opposition was saying earlier, 'Where is the water?' Well, there is far more water on its way here now than ever there was under—

Dr Close interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —the South Australian Labor Party. We have New South Wales putting out tenders, looking for efficiency projects, talking in their communities about those opportunities. We have Victoria doing likewise. We have the Australian Capital Territory undertaking work towards projects as well. That is the first time since the plan was formed that these states are even considering that. In fact, it would have been anathema for that to have occurred before 14 December 2018.

We gave those jurisdictions confidence in the plan, confidence that their communities would not be undermined as a result of social and economic loss. South Australia and our Riverland is the case study for how you can advance efficiency projects and still continue to grow your regional economy. So I ask the opposition: why do they believe that what has happened in South Australia with efficiency projects historically can't occur interstate to enable us to deliver water into the river, and why is the South Australian Labor Party so focused on compulsory buybacks, ripping water out of communities—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: No, compulsory buybacks, because to achieve some of the recommendations of the royal commission the only pathway to that is compulsory buybacks, and that would rip—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —the heart out of regional communities.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is called to order and warned.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: I have travelled with the Minister for Regional Development to stand on farms where compulsory buybacks have been undertaken, and that has literally seen vines—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —wither in communities and fewer people working in the local mechanic workshops, fewer kids in primary kids, fewer people shopping at the IGA, and that is what buybacks do to communities, and that is the approach of the South Australian Labor Party.

Dr Close: Voluntary buybacks.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: The deputy leader yells out, 'Voluntary buybacks.' Sorry, but voluntary buybacks have the same social and economic impact that compulsory ones do. They still remove farms from the landscape, they still remove kids from our primary schools, they still diminish the viability of regional towns, and that is a tragedy that I will not allow to unfold in South Australia's Riverland. It is a tragedy that would force New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT away from the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. As a consequence of that, we would get far less environmental water flowing down the river, sustaining our irrigators, sustaining our regional towns and securing the environmental sustainability of the Coorong, the Lower Lakes and the Murray Mouth.