Newly elected Member for Farrer David Farley used his debut parliamentary question time to quiz Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles about the nation’s water.

Rather than directing his opening questions to the Environment or Agriculture ministers, Farley targeted the Defence and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles.

“I asked the Minister where does water fit in the security of the nation?” Mr Farley said, speaking in Hay, where he attended the annual Hay Merino Sheep Show.

Mr Farley asked Mr Marles on whether the Department of Defence was actively engaged in three critical, ongoing federal processes: the 2027 Water Act Review, the current review of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, and the drafting of the National Food Security Strategy paper.

“I asked the minister – was his department involved in the Water Act Review, which is happening at the moment?

“I asked him – was his department involved in the review of the Murray Darling Basin Plan which is happening at the moment?

“And is your department involved in the National Food Security Strategy paper, which has been drafted now?”

Mr Farley said Mr Marles admitted his department was not currently at the table but conceded: “We should be.”

Mr Marles went on to agree that water must be viewed as an essential Australian defence asset, signalling that Defence could be integrated into future strategic water planning.

Speaking exclusively to The Riverine Grazier, Mr Farley made it clear this is only the beginning of his work on overhauling how water is viewed in Australia.

“The objective of that question is that water is now taken out from strictly under the lens of the environment,” Mr Farley said.

“It is also under the lens of national security.

“We need to take water away from being purely environmental to being a strategic sovereign asset of national security and protection.”

Mr Farley warned that the nation’s weakest moment would come during a prolonged domestic drought.

“In a period of prolonged drought, we will be importing a lot of food,” Mr Farley said.

“Of course, you can soon be blockaded, or have ships diverted away from us.

“There would be nothing worse than having a perfect environment, but we run out of food.”

The newly elected MP’s critique relies heavily on a concept he terms ‘intrinsic value’ or the idea that agricultural policy shouldn’t only involve farmers and producers.

“In Australia, we stop at the farm gate all the time,” Mr Farley said.

“Intrinsic value is not just what’s happening on the farm.

“It’s what’s happening in the town with the butcher, the fuel truck driver, the farm supplier, the school, and education.

“At the moment, when we talk about drought, we just focus on the poor farmers and measure it in rainfall productivity.

“Let’s look at what it’s doing to the communities, the towns, and the food supply chain.”

Mr Farley’s move to link water resources to national security gives him a potent new weapon to deploy against the Albanese Government’s water buybacks.

He has already flagged his next line of questioning, which will focus heavily on fiscal transparency and structural neglect within the Farrer electorate.

“In the budget, there’s no reference to the Murray-Darling Basin plan, but the government is still buying water,” Mr Farley said.

“So you (the government) haven’t budgeted for it, but you’re still buying it.”

In terms of planning for the future Mr Farley points directly to the state of Burrinjuck Dam.

“Burrinjuck Dam is now over 100 years old – it is well beyond its replacement date. There’s no work with the infrastructure department or Treasury to replace it.

“Why not?”

Mr Farley said he and his party – Pauline Hanson’s One Nation – wants the best outcomes for all water users.

“What we’re trying to do is put water into a more eminent, a more relevant position in Australia, not just the environment,” he said.

“We want to look after the environment, don’t get me wrong.

“But we also want to make sure that water is managed to keep food affordability right, and keep Australian products in the supermarket.

This article appeared in The Riverine Grazier, 17 June 2026.