The Turnbull government appears close to securing the passage of its double-dissolution election trigger, the restoration of the building industry watchdog, after coming to terms with Nick Xenophon on water allocations in the Murray-Darling Basin.
Xenophon told reporters on Tuesday afternoon he had secured two accountability measures to oversee the basin plan – a twice-yearly discussion between the prime minister and premiers at Coag and a Senate estimates process to oversee implementation.
Labor’s Senate leader, Penny Wong, and the Greens senator for South Australia, Sarah Hanson-Young, blasted the deal, saying Xenophon had secured no more water for South Australia as a consequence of his haggle with the government.
“South Australians needed more water and they got more talk,” Wong said on Tuesday evening. “We’ve got more talk, rather than more water.”
Heading into the final parliamentary sitting week for 2016, Xenophon had declared he would not deal with any government legislation until a dispute over water allocations in the Murray-Darling Basin plan was resolved.
The dispute centred on an extra 450 gigalitres of extra water promised to South Australia as part of a 2013 intergovernmental agreement between the commonwealth and the states.
The deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, had signalled to the SA government during a combative meeting the state would not get the additional water because the allocation could harm upstream communities.
Xenophon objected and launched a go-slow on the Australian Building and Construction Commission legislation while negotiating with the prime minister and the South Australian premier, Jay Weatherill.
Squaring away Xenophon on water has been a prerequisite to the NXT bloc agreeing to deal with the government’s legislation restoring the ABCC – legislation the Turnbull government wants passed before parliament rises for the year.
While the water undertakings from the government look thin, Xenophon claimed they were significant. He told reporters he believed the critical ABCC vote could now be dealt with either on Wednesday night or Thursday night, presuming progress on amendments he is seeking to the government’s proposal.
“Elevating the implementation of the plan to first minister’s level at Coag twice a year and ensuring, for the first time, a separate and comprehensive cross-portfolio Senate estimates process twice a year, are two significant accountability measures,” Xenophon said after drawing a line under the water dispute.
“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.”
Pressed to explain whether or not there was more water for South Australia as a consequence of the government’s undertakings, Xenophon said: “The water will be coming as a result of efficiency measures which must be driven in relation to this.”
Asked whether, he had, in essence, been fobbed off by the government, Xenophon said he and his parliamentary team could not be fobbed off because they weren’t going anywhere.
“We are going to be here for a while in this parliament,” he said. “We will be voting on legislation. There is a process.
“If we do not get those efficiency measures ... then there will be consequences for that.”
