House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2) 52 2 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) (14:58): Supplementary to that answer, can the Treasurer explain why the budget papers say that there has been a $212 million turnaround in the net transfer of funds from SA Water to the government—$212 million net turnaround in favour of the government—and in fact there is a positive payment in this most recent year of $172 million from SA Water to the government net of CSOs and all those things? The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for MacKillop, I think you need to learn the difference between supplementaries and questions. Again, that was a question, but it does not matter. Ask as many as you like. Minister. The Hon. J.J. SNELLING House of Assembly Playford Minister for Workers Rehabilitation Minister for Defence Industries Minister for Veterans' Affairs The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Treasurer, Minister for Workers Rehabilitation, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (14:59): I will have to check exactly what the deputy leader is referring to, but it is true that as water prices increase and the gap between the statewide water price and the metropolitan water price narrows, then that CSO reduces. The simple fact is that at the moment the CSOs we pay to SA Water to provide statewide uniform pricing are significant, and substantially offset the dividends that the government receives from SA Water. The second point is, as I say, if you take into account what has happened to our GST grants, and because of the grant from the commonwealth to expand the size of the desalination plant, in fact the total return to government is probably negative. Mr Williams House of Assembly Mr Williams: That was a great decision. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Deputy leader, do you have another question? Mr WILLIAMS House of Assembly Mr WILLIAMS: I have heaps more, Madam Speaker.