Thursday, 30 November 2023

 Ellen SANDELL (Melbourne) (14:34): My question is to the Premier. This morning the federal Parliament passed a new Murray–Darling Basin plan, a deal to return more water to our struggling river system, yet Victoria is the only state in the whole country that refuses to sign up to this deal. Our river system is in crisis, so why is Victoria refusing to sign up to a plan that is trying to save it?

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:34): I thank the member for Melbourne for her question. As someone who lives in the Murray–Darling Basin region, works in the Murray–Darling Basin region and represents the Murray–Darling Basin region, the future of the basin, the future of the environment, the future of the communities and the future of economic development in the basin are of particular concern and priority for me and for the government. That is why our water minister Minister Shing in the other place has been firm and resolute in carrying forward a long-held policy position. I look across to the Leader of the National Party and I can see he is nodding in agreement. It has been a long-held position from Victoria that when it comes to the question of the allocation of the water resource, it is a precious and finite resource. It is a resource too, though, that rural communities rely on. They rely on it to have a safe and secure environment. Indigenous organisations rely on it to support the work they do in rehabilitating the land, and also industries – most notably industries like the dairy industry. But so many others also rely on a secure water supply to continue to employ people in our regions and in our communities. That is why we have been very clear with the federal government that the position that has been held for some time and represented by a range of water ministers – I think it started with you, Walshy, and it has been carried forward by other water ministers – is that we do have concerns about water buybacks. That is why we have historically insisted on the socio-economic impact assessment that is undertaken and needs to be part of any assessment about buybacks.

Now, we have done significant heavy lifting for a very long period of time here in Victoria. When we went through the millennium drought, the worst drought on record, we invested heavily – the former Labor government that I was proud to be part of – in water infrastructure. That was about saving water, making our channel systems more efficient so dairy farmers and producers could have security of supply, and also investing in water security so communities like Bendigo and Ballarat could have a security of supply. We are going to continue that position, member for Melbourne. We are not going to play politics with this issue. We are going to stand up for rural and regional communities, the environment and jobs, because this is a particularly important issue for our communities.

 Ellen SANDELL (Melbourne) (14:37): My supplementary question is: because Victoria refuses to sign up to the plan, we are not only putting the river at risk but we also miss out on federal funding for regional communities that the Premier talks about who might be impacted by water buybacks. The federal Labor member for Bendigo – a seat which covers the Premier’s own electorate – recently said:

… I really hope my Labor colleagues in the Victorian government are listening and get on board with the plan.

Premier, will you listen to her and finally sign Victoria up to the plan, or is Labor in Victoria still intent on being in lock step with Barnaby Joyce and the Nationals when it comes to water policy?

The SPEAKER: Member for Melbourne, you asked two questions. Could you please reduce it to one question?

Ellen SANDELL: Premier, will you listen to your federal Labor member for Bendigo and finally sign Victoria up to the Murray–Darling Basin plan to save the river?

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:38): I repeat: we do not support buybacks. We have been working very hard, as I have already outlined, for a long time – not the last 5 minutes, five months or 18 months – here in Victoria to invest in a secure water system for rural and regional communities. The member for Melbourne made reference to the former federal leader of the National Party. I am sure the member for Murray Plains could vouch for me when I say I have very rarely, if ever, been in lock step with Barnaby Joyce. The member for Murray Plains is my witness on that front. The Greens political party may want to play their political games from the inner city, but we are focused on supporting jobs. We are focused on supporting the environment, because without a secure water supply it is also the environment that can be damaged in the process.