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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-02-12 Daily Xml
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Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission

Ms COOK (Hurtle Vale) (15:49): The health of the River Murray is of great importance to all South Australians. Judging by recent actions, however, that is all South Australians minus the Minister for Environment and Water, the Premier and his cabinet.

In 2017, the Weatherill Labor government established the Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission. We did so because the community had lost faith in the federal Liberal-National government, the Eastern States and the Murray Darling Basin Authority to protect the Murray. We have seen the Four Corners episode that detailed case after case of upstream irrigators stealing water from the river system: water that was meant for environmental flows to ensure that world heritage sites such as the Coorong are protected for generations to come; and water that would ensure communities like Goolwa, Murray Bridge and other river towns could continue to thrive.

We always knew that the Eastern States would not stand up for South Australia and the Murray, but what nobody at the time ever expected was that the biggest traitor of our interests would be the new Liberal South Australian government. Led by the Minister for Environment and Water, this government has completely capitulated to the Eastern States. Here is what the independent commissioner, a New South Welshman no less, said:

The South Australian Government's agreement to changes to the socio-economic criteria for efficiency measures should not merely be described as ill-advised. It is nothing short of a capitulation to the interests of the current Commonwealth Government, and those of Victoria and New South Wales. It is so contrary to the interests of South Australians that the decision by the Minister responsible is almost certainly a breach of at least cl 2.5 of the South Australian Ministerial Code of Conduct in that no Minister acting reasonably could consider these changes to the criteria to be anything but totally antipathetic to the interests of South Australians, and the South Australian environment.

I ask the minister charged with protecting our water supply: was this a point of weakness, was this being gutless in standing up to the Eastern States, was he poorly advised, or was this just plain stupid? To be a member of parliament is a privilege—to be a minister, even more so—but it is also a duty. The Minister for Environment and Water has so utterly failed in his duty to our state that he needs to do the only honourable thing that is left, and that is to resign.

A day does not go by without somebody in my electorate of Hurtle Vale talking to me about the Murray-Darling. It is disturbing. Almost every single person says the same thing: that we need to keep fighting for the Murray. Only the other day, I was at a function where there was a number of Liberal-voting (well, no more) Barossa Valley residents in the member for Schubert's electorate who were horrified about this current mess, horrified about the capitulation of the minister, and they will be acting in the lead-up to the next election against their Liberal Party.

How is it that the entire community understands this but not the Minister for the Environment? How is the minister disciplined? Well, the Premier stands up and says that he has the full support of cabinet: the full support of cabinet to capitulate to the Eastern States; the full support of cabinet to sell out South Australia; and the full support of cabinet to act, and I quote:

…so contrary to the interests of South Australians that the decision by the Minister responsible is almost certainly a breach of at least cl 2.5 of the South Australian Ministerial Code of Conduct…

Does the minister even understand the plan? The decision to allow the Eastern States to replace the original schedule 5 criteria that allowed willing sellers to sell their water back to the commonwealth is stupid policy designed entirely by the National Party in New South Wales to screw South Australia and the entire Murray-Darling Basin. It is not just the Murray that this minister does not understand. This same minister sacked 110 staff in the 2018 budget. He could not stand up for South Australia on the Murray and he could not stand up to his own Liberal Treasurer to protect the staff in his own department.

The whole public spat with his chief executive has been played out in public. We have listened to him on radio. We have listened to him change his mind and, as our deputy leader talked about, we have listened to the conversation he had on ABC 891. We have listened to him backtrack when asked about his chief executive's edict that the department is transitioning to an economic development agency. Well, minister, as you said yourself, they have got it wrong. You need to stand up to the environment first.

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