Australia is in the grip of a national water crisis.

Every state and territory in the country is dealing with this crisis in one way or another.

Let’s be clear: Drought is nobody’s fault. But if we don’t act on the water crisis today, future generations will suffer.

I believe it’s time we left our political jerseys in the locker room, because this is a genuine national crisis.

I’m today offering the Prime Minister my full bipartisan support for the convening of a National Water Summit.

Water is an intergenerational challenge. It needs both sides of politics working hand on hand to find solutions.

A National Water Summit should be held as soon as practicably possible. It should involve all sides of politics, both Federal and State.

Collectively, we must work to eliminate the bureaucratic stumbling blocks that have resulted in little or no real progress on water reform.

We must be engaged in investigating real solutions to our continuing water crisis.

I propose a three month political truce on water politics so we can bury the political hatchet on water and work on solving the critical issues at hand.

We must leave politics out of this project. In the current climate, it has come time to consider a national war cabinet on water. The stakes are too high now to waste time.