Senator CORMANN (Western Australia—Minister for Finance, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:27): The first point is that the government is, of course, absolutely committed to delivering the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and ensuring that the ensuing benefits flow to communities, farmers and the environment. When it comes to the questions in relation to dam infrastructure, the Basin Plan sets sustainable diversion limits, which are how much water can be used in the Murray-Darling Basin while leaving enough water to sustain the natural environment. Basin state governments are responsible for allocating water, and they determine the maximum amount of surface and groundwater that can be extracted from the river system— The PRESIDENT: Order. Senator Hanson-Young, if you're rising on a point of order on direct relevance, I urge you to consider that it was a very broad minute-long question. Senator Hanson-Young: I accept that, so I'm going to make it simple. The question was: will the government release the full cost-benefit analysis of these proposals? The PRESIDENT: Senator Hanson-Young, with all due respect, with a preamble like that, you don't get to pick out the words at the end and restate that that's the question. The minister can be directly relevant to any part of the question asked. You had an extensive preamble. The minister's entitled to be directly relevant to any part of that. Senator CORMANN: Thank you for that ruling, Mr President. I will again say that the government is committed to delivering the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in full, ensuring that the benefits flow to communities, farmers and the environment. I would also point out that the plan is the product of collaboration and cooperation between the federal government and relevant basin state governments. In that context, I was also making the point that basin governments may choose to build new infrastructure or make changes to existing infrastructure—for example, raising dam walls to store more water and improve water security for basin communities. That is entirely consistent with the plan. New or expanded dams don't create water but rather intercept and store large volumes of water which can then be managed as regulated releases. The Murray-Darling Basin Authority is required to ensure that state governments are using no more than the long-term annual average limit of water that can be taken from individual catchments within the basin. This requires that state governments have taken the maximum level of water used into consideration in any new development proposals. Any new infrastructure in the basin would need to be filled and used by entitlement volume within the sustainable diversion limits, and all new dams would require the necessary environmental, development, cultural, heritage and other approvals from relevant government authorities. There is not a regulatory responsibility for the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to approve new dams. (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Hanson-Young, a supplementary question?