NSW Shadow Water Minister Steph Cooke says the passage of Commonwealth legislation rewriting the rules of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, gives added urgency to the need for greater transparency around the deal the NSW Labor Government has struck with their federal counterparts, to meet unscientific environmental water targets.
Ms Cooke says the NSW Labor Government has serious questions to answer on the fine print of the agreement, after the Water Minister appeared to admit there is no formal paperwork associated with the revised Basin Plan.
“We in Opposition are fed-up with the sheer lack of detail around the agreement between the state and federal governments, and brought forward a motion in the Upper House calling on the release of all documents relating to the revised Murray-Darling Basin Plan,” Ms Cooke said.
“Alarmingly the Water Minister, in opposing the motion, said there were no documents, admitting that the papers we are seeking – such as any kind of formal written and signed agreement – to use her words “simply don’t exist”.
“How is it possible that there is no paper trail? That there is not even so much as a meeting brief, or meeting minutes, a submission or proposal; basically anything that formalises the deal, or sets out some terms and conditions.
“Is it truly the case that this NSW Labor Government agreed to a revised Murray-Darling Basin Plan, that supposedly provides more time for water delivery, and $700 million dollars for water projects, without any kind of contractual paperwork?
“This kind of obfuscation would be farcical, if it wasn’t so very deeply concerning; lives and livelihoods hang in the balance over what happens next in regard to how this government meets its water targets, and it appears we don’t even have so much as an understanding scribbled on the back of an envelope,” she said.
Ms Cooke said that unsurprisingly, Labor sided with the Greens in opposing the motion.
“We have given the government every opportunity to be up-front about their deal, but they continue to dodge all attempts to scrutinise the revised Basin Plan,” Ms Cooke said.
“This is a tipping point – the danger to our future prosperity is very real; they’re playing politics with an issue that goes directly to the heart of Australia’s way of life, and it’s just not good enough for this NSW Labor Government to keep the people of this state in the dark,” she said.
