After raising her eyebrows at the audacity of a young reporter taking a sound check, she turned on Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull.

He had to "step up to the mark" and agree to support the Rudd government's plan for water purchases that would "put the Murray-Darling Basin back on a sustainable footing".

Ms Wong said that after finally getting over its climate change scepticism, the former government should commend outcomes which it was unable to achieve in office.

"To date, they have not made one single amendment, not one single suggestion," she said. Division and disarray ruled.

In a 10-minute question-and-answer whistle-stop, she focused on national perspectives, leaving South Australian reporters wanting for answers about the dry state of affairs on their home turf.

While the purpose of the Minister's update - contained in a two-page press release - made the case for her government's water buybacks, questions about the Lower Lakes, Riverland and the pipleline were dealt under the heading of "enormous problem".

There was no easy solution or silver bullet. The Lower Lakes would take in excess 1300 gigalitres to fill and maintain for a year - more than in active storage.

"I make the point that in the last round of purchasers, the majority of environmental sites watered were in South Australia," she said.

The Minister announced that $660 million had been spent - to June 30 - on buying 446 billion litres of water for the Murray-Darling Basin, with $613 used to secure 408bL in 2008-09.

"To help meet the challenges posed by climate change, drought and over-allocation, the government is investing $3.1b over 10 years in purchasing water to return to the Basin's stressed rivers and wetlands," Sen Wong said.