Question Time

WATER SECURITY

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:32): My question is to the Premier. If the Premier feels action must be taken on our water security at the highest level, why has he not taken charge of the portfolio personally and, in particular, why has he refused to personally chair the Water Security Council, instead, giving the job to a minister who has publicly stated a water council is not needed?

In a press conference on 30 August 2007, the Minister for Water Security dismissed the Liberal's policy of establishing a water council and said:

We already have a senior level water advisory group reporting directly through myself to cabinet and the Premier. It's called the Water Advisory Group and is established to support the Water Security Task Force which is the chief executives of all the departments that have an involvement in the management of water.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD (Chaffey—Minister for the River Murray, Minister for Water Security, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Small Business, Minister Assisting the Minister for Industry and Trade) (14:33): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I point out very clearly to the Leader of the Opposition that the Water Security Council has been formed by joining the Water Advisory Group and the Water Security Task Force together to deal with the water security issues and the drought issues that we are facing concurrently. We have been operating since October 2006, with the Water Security Task Force made up of all the chief executives of the departments who are dealing with the contingency planning for drought. We also have a technical group supporting that, as well as an advisory group of independent people from around the nation, including Don Blackmore, who is a highly regarded voice of authority regarding River Murray and Murray-Darling issues. He sits on an advisory group.

We have now determined that, since the establishment of the Water Security Office, we will bring those two organisations together. We are calling it the Water Security Council and are appointing an independent commissioner, who will actually head the Water Security Office. The Water Security Office will deal with a whole range of policy matters regarding water security for the future. The Water Security Task Force has proven to be a highly successful model to manage the drought issues—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: —and to deal with the waters and the myriad issues with which we have had to deal not only at a state level but also at a national level regarding water security. With the establishment of the Office of Water Security, the Water Security Council and a Commissioner for Water we are seeing a high level focus on the issues going forward to build on the strength that we have developed and the mechanisms we have put in place to deal with drought contingency. I believe that we are going to see a significant focus on water nationally over the next few years. We need to be well positioned in South Australia to lead that debate. We are, and this water security council is going to help us build on that.