Senator Nick Xenophon strikes deal with Turnbull Government on River Murray for SA
A RIVER Murray deal set the scene for the Government to pass its crucial union legislation but has angered Labor and the Greens.
- ABCC nearly wrapped for Christmas
- Cut Murray River water flows and ‘kiss the Coorong goodbye’
- Nick Xenophon plays hardball on Murray water
- Murray Darling plan: Water wars threaten the Coorong
- IN-DEPTH: How the water wars truce broke down
A RIVER Murray deal set the scene for the Government to pass its crucial union legislation as soon as Wednesday night, but has angered Labor and the Greens.
South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon said he was now satisfied the Federal Government was committed to delivering the 3200 billion litres in the Murray Darling Basin Plan; however, it is still unclear exactly how that water will be delivered.
The Australian Building and Construction Commission Bill — one of the triggers for this year’s double dissolution election — was being held up by Senator Nick Xenophon and his team’s concerns.
The Government — desperate to pass the legislation in this final sitting week of Parliament — on Tuesday agreed to a string of demands from the Senate crossbench, including promising more accountability over the plan’s delivery and was given the thumbs up from Senator Xenophon. The ABCC legislation finally passed the upper house 36 votes to 33 on Wednesday morning.
In a letter to Premier Jay Weatherill, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirmed that the Government wanted to deliver the full plan.
Its progress will now be discussed at every meeting of the Council of Australian Governments and at special Estimates sessions.
His Water Minister, Barnaby Joyce, said it was up to state ministers to come up with projects that will save water. There is still $1.78 billion on the table for those projects, so the actual mechanisms for delivering the water are still up in the air.
Senator Xenophon said elevating the plan to COAG and having the Estimates process were “two significant accountability measures”.
“I consider there is now a much better process in place to ensure implementation of the plan,” he said.
“Obviously, given the nature of the plan, its longitudinal scope, the funds and projects involved, there is a need for ongoing vigilance and commitment to its implementation.”
The stoush over the Murray began when Mr Joyce wrote to state Water Minister Ian Hunter, warning him that 450 billion litres of the 3200 total would be almost impossible to deliver without a new approach.
Mr Hunter responded with a foul-mouthed tirade, and the State Government accused Mr Joyce of tearing up the whole plan.
Under the plan, 2750 billion litres are set to be delivered by 2019 while an extra 450 billion litres were to be delivered by 2024 — as long as there was no consequential harm to farming communities.
But Mr Weatherill said he didn’t “believe” Mr Joyce was committed to delivering the plan.
“It’s clear there is still a long way to go,” he said.
SA Labor Senator Penny Wong said that “what South Australians need is more water, what they got was more talk”, while Greens’ water spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said Senator Xenophon had “sold SA down the river”.