Updated
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has maintained Barnaby Joyce did not breach any rules when he approved a controversial water buyback deal in 2017.
Key points:
- Barnaby Joyce has angrily defended signing off on an $80 million water buyback deal
- Scott Morrison says Mr Joyce acted appropriately and notes Labor had made deals with the same company
- Labor maintains the deal they struck was after a competitive tender process and was “clearly value for money for the taxpayer”
The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources bought 28 gigalitres of water from Eastern Australia Agriculture, as part of a series of agreements that saw the Federal Government spend $200 million buying environmental water under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
The buybacks occurred without an open tender process.
Mr Joyce, who was water minister at the time, has angrily defended his conduct and dismissed criticism of the deal as “horse crap”.
The now-Energy Minister Angus Taylor was once a director of the company involved, but had no financial interest in it and ended his association before entering Parliament.
Federal Labor has not ruled out establishing a formal inquiry into the deal, but the Prime Minister says Mr Joyce and his department acted appropriately.
“The minister relied totally on the advice provided by his department, and that department conducted those negotiations at arm’s length and have inquired into the relevant matters under the act,” Mr Morrison said.
“He was dealing with a legal entity. There is no suggestion that the company that was involved in the transaction was not a legal entity.”
Mr Joyce yesterday denied that $80 million was too much money to spend on water licences or that any government MP had profited from the arrangement.
Mr Joyce said he did not know the parties involved in the deal at the time.
“I never knew Angus Taylor. I wouldn’t have known him if he stood up in my corn flakes before he came into Parliament, right?” he said.
“There is nothing untoward about the actions of Mr Taylor — but he is the best person to interview [about that], not me, because I’m Mr Joyce.
“I am at arms-length. I do not negotiate the price. I do not negotiate the vender. I am responsible for the overarching policy. The Greens wanted more water, so we bought the water.”
Asked to identify who profited from the deal, Mr Joyce evaded the question.
“It’s not relevant. You don’t ask that, you ask if they have water to sell. Not what clothes they wear, not who they are married to,” he said.
Pressed further if he knew where the money went, Mr Joyce responded with frustration.
“Oh God. I’ve heard it’s a trust account in the Cayman Islands — that’s what the Queensland Labor Government should have told me. Shouldn’t they? Water is a resource of a state government,” he said.
“Why did Labor recommend it to us? Are they morons? Are they asleep? You’re saying the Queensland Labor Government are completely incompetent and recommended us a bad deal?
“[It was a] Labor, Labor, Labor, Labor, Labor Government who recommended this to us.”
Labor says deals struck with same company involved tender
Mr Morrison also noted that Federal Labor had struck water deals with the same company when it was in government.
“The Labor Party did a deal with the same company. There was no questions raised about the integrity of the company with Labor did a deal,” he said.
“[Water buybacks have] been done under both governments. I have never sought to make a partisan issue out of the Murray Darling Basin plan.
“It is an important plan for rural New South Wales. It is a complex plan and sometimes a frustrating set of arrangements. We seek to do it in a bipartisan way.”
Labor’s water spokesman Tony Burke said this morning he did not know the company at the centre of the water buyback scandal was domiciled in the Cayman Islands.
Asked about the deal involving the company that he signed off on when he was water minister, he argued that there was a competitive tender.
He said he did not seek to find out where the company was registered for tax purposes “because of the simple reason it was clearly value for money for the taxpayer”.
Mr Burke has demanded more details about the 2017 transaction approved by Mr Joyce before the close of business today, and Labor may push for a formal inquiry if none are provided.
Topics:
First posted
from Trend Gossip Now http://bit.ly/2IJVUds
0 Comments