The Labor party is increasingly isolated and discredited on the Water Act, said Senator Barnaby Joyce today.
"Today's editorial in the Financial Review confirms what the Coalition has been calling for, for months. A proper investigation of the Water Act to ensure we deliver what we promised the people of the Murray-Darling Basin: a plan that equally balances the economic, social and environmental ramifications.
The Financial Review has made a damning assessment of Labor's "haphazard policymaking". The Financial Review states:
The final decision on cutbacks to water allocations is in danger of being challenged legally by whichever party feels aggrieved by it ... To avoid such an outcome, which would only further delay the restoration of the river system, the government should come clean and amend the Water Act to reflect its "triple-bottom line" approach.#
"This is of course just common sense. It’s astounding that the Labor party continue to put the politics above the interests of a well-balanced Basin Plan for the 2 million people who live in the Basin.
"The Financial Review's call joins those who are concerned that the Water Act does not deliver a triple-bottom line approach of Mike Taylor, Chair of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority*, University of New South Wales Law Professor George Williams**, Sydney barrister Josephine Kelly***, the Productivity Commission**** and University of Melbourne Professor Judith Sloan*****.
"What more does the Labor party want before they even agree to investigate the Act? It's time the Labor party stop holding the Basin plan hostage to these legal issues and get on board to solve the problem."
# Australian Financial Review, 'Missteps bode ill for prosperity', 9 December, p. 54.
* Mike Taylor, Plan for the Murray-Darling Basin - Role of Authority Chair, Media Release, 7 December.
** Lenore Taylor, 'Basin Plan gets bogged down in legal wrangling," Sydney Morning Herald, 27 October 2010.
*** Josephine Kelly, 'The river's needs are the only consideration', Australian Financial Review, 16 November, 2010.
**** Productivity Commission 2010, Market Mechanisms for Recovering Water in the Murray-Darling Basin, Final Report, March, Recommendation 6.1.
*****Judith Sloan, 'Basin plan forced to put environment above people', The Australian, 11 October.