House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1) 52 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Desalination Plant DESALINATION PLANT Mr WILLIAMS House of Assembly MacKillop Deputy Leader of the Opposition DESALINATION PLANT Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:10): My question is to the Minister for Water. An honourable member interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Mr WILLIAMS House of Assembly Mr WILLIAMS: Does the minister agree with the Productivity Commission's water expert, Wendy Craik, that the cost and the size of the South Australian desalination plant are excessive? The Hon. P. CAICA House of Assembly Colton Minister for Environment and Conservation Minister for the River Murray Minister for Water The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton—Minister for Environment and Conservation, Minister for the River Murray, Minister for Water) (15:10): I thank the deputy leader for his question. I guess I would answer in this way. Firstly, I make no comments or assertions, as you did, that the chair of the Productivity Commission is an expert. You know as well as I do that the Productivity Commission report is a draft report. We will be responding to that draft report formally because it is our view that some of the assumptions were, at the very least, naive if not somewhat flawed, and we will be taking that up in our response to the Productivity Commission. In regards to the question about whether or not we got value for money—I think that was the thrust of the question— Mr Williams interjecting: The Hon. P. CAICA House of Assembly The Hon. P. CAICA: No, it wasn't? I always try to deconstruct— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Mr Williams interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! You have asked your question. The Hon. P. CAICA House of Assembly The Hon. P. CAICA: Quite simply, Madam Speaker, it is a bit difficult for the opposition to have it both ways. Depending on the day, they will take credit for the fact that they have proposed to construct a desal plant. I guess the difference between— Mr Williams interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order, member for MacKillop! The Hon. P. CAICA House of Assembly The Hon. P. CAICA: —us and them is and, again, next time they will decry the fact that we are building a desal plant, so you can't have it both ways, but the decision to build a desal plant was sound. The only difference between us and them is a bit similar, using this analogy, that they would have only got the job half done, just as they did with the freeway down south; they would have it going one way. We believe, and it will be confirmed in the future because what we saw during the drought was a glimpse of what the future is going to be like, based on what the scientists are saying. Mr Williams House of Assembly Mr Williams: Have you got a crystal ball? The Hon. P. CAICA House of Assembly The Hon. P. CAICA: No, I haven't. I am basing it on what the scientists say: greater frequency of droughts with greater intensity. The decision to build a desal plant, to increase its capacity, was a decision based on the fact that we would have available to us a climatically independent source of water that would secure our water supplies for this generation and future generations, and that was a sound decision to make.