Senator the Hon. Penny Wong
Minister for Climate Change, Energy Efficiency and Water
Abbott set to be rolled by National Party on water referendum
Media release
18 June 2010
PW 139/10
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Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s leadership on the crucial issue of water security is being challenged by his own supporters at the National Party federal conference this weekend.
Mr Abbott’s promise to Adelaide voters that a Coalition government would hold a referendum for a total Federal Government takeover of the Murray Darling Basin is set to be overruled by a motion proposed by his key backers in the Nationals.
His own Deputy Leader, Warren Truss, this morning told Sky News:
Well the Nationals have never been keen on the idea of a referendum...
And Mr Abbott’s Shadow Minister for Water, Barnaby Joyce, put it rather more bluntly in yesterday’s edition of The Age:
My view on a referendum is that it is the last proposition before the coming of Christ.
Given the National Party’s central role in the demise of Malcolm Turnbull and the rise of Tony Abbott, this is a crucial test for Mr Abbott’s leadership.
"If the National Party defy Mr Abbott’s referendum proposal, Mr Abbott’s credibility on water will be in tatters," Minister for Water, Senator Penny Wong said.
"Everyone will know Phoney Tony wasn’t telling the gospel truth when he promised a referendum.
"Mr Abbott simply cannot deliver any water policy through the Coalition without National Party support."
The Rudd Government has already secured the only takeover that counts, with the independent Murray Darling Basin Authority set to release the draft long term plan to save the Murray in the near future.
"That plan will restore our rivers to health by reducing how much water can be taken from them," Senator Wong said.
"Nothing in Tony Abbott’s referendum proposal delivers that guarantee for the rivers. All his proposal would do is slow down the reform that is already in place."
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