Every time the Labor party stuffs up it seems to rain, and I'm looking out the window at record floods.
Every time they stuff up the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, the Labor party comes up with a new excuse for not looking at the Water Act.
It is clear that we have one Australian Government Solicitor but two interpretations of the Water Act. It is absolutely untenable for the Minister to continue to disagree with a respected senior public servant who has been working on the Basin Plan for 18 months. The Minister is now also disagreeing with Professor George Williams, Professor of Law at the University of NSW.
One of them must be wrong and until it's sorted out there can be no certainty for the communities of the Murray-Darling.
Now Mr Burke says that we can't investigate the Act because that would mean further delay.
The biggest risk of delay is if we don't get this right the first time, it could be the subject of a court challenge. If that happened, the whole process is thrown out and we have to start again.
Ultimately, it does not matter what Mr Burke or Ms Gillard think, it matters what the seven people on the High Court bench think.
Let me make it clear. The Coalition supports a good plan, not any plan. There should be no reason to delay the Plan providing that we put in the effort now to investigate the Act, review the economics and science and act in accordance with a triple-bottom line approach.
Both the Labor party and the Coalition have made one promise: to deliver a triple bottom line outcome in the Basin. Let's make sure we do the homework so we can deliver on that promise.
The House and Senate parliamentary inquires are perfectly capable of responding to concerns about the Act in a way that would not delay the finalisation of the Plan and could attract prominent, well-qualified experts to suggest amendments, if required, to honour the bipartisan promise.
It is absolutely hypocritical for the Labor party to cry poor about delays when:
- They took 18 months just to set up the Authority
- The Guide to the Basin Plan was delayed three times under their watch
- They are $350 million behind in investing in water-saving infrastructure in the Basin compared to the original plan.
It's time for the Labor party to stop playing politics with the Murray-Darling and put the people of the Basin first.