Labor has sensationally backflipped on a One Nation water register in the House of Representatives after supporting it in the Senate. The Water Act was passed in 2007 with the provision that trades be recorded in a central, basin-wide, transparent water trading register.
The Council of Water Ministers agreed to this register in 2008. The Murray Darling Basin Authority tried to introduce this register in 2009 and failed. Nothing has been done since, my amendment simply put a date on getting it done of September 2021.
The amendment was passed in the Senate with the entire cross bench and ALP in support. Then the ALP and the Government did a dodgy deal to vote the amendment down in the lower house.
The Nationals and the ALP are acting together to breach the Water Act in order to stop a transparent water register which will show who is trading water for speculative purposes. The only logical conclusion is that these parties are protecting their own.
Transcript
The amendments on sheet 1200 simply implement an existing requirement of the Water Act to maintain a transparent register of water trades. This provision has been in the Water Act for 14 years. As Minister Dutton kindly pointed out in the House of Representatives debate this morning, this amendment has a solid legal basis. The pathetic excuse the Nationals gave that the states each have their own register actually supports our case for a basin-wide register. The Nationals have confirmed that there is not a basin-wide register. By taking this action, the ALP and the Liberals and their sellout sidekicks the Nationals are making it clear that they intend to pick and choose which aspects of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan they intend to follow. It’s a bit like they’re saying: ‘We like this bit. Let’s spend years stealing water from farmers, forcing up the price of water so the holdings of our friends are suddenly worth a fortune. But we hate this bit. We don’t want anyone to know what we’re doing.’ On what legal basis are the Nationals, the Liberals and Labor doing this? (Time expired)
