DESALINATION PLANT

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:33): My question is again to the Premier. Will the Premier now release all documentation pertinent to the decision to double the size of the desalination plant? The government has released two reports, both of which were dated after the decision was made and therefore neither of which could have informed the decision.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:34): Just to explain to the honourable member the process, because she has not had the opportunity to be a minister so perhaps is not familiar with the way in which one would deliberate in these matters—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: What occurred around that time is that we had set up a Water Security Council. It met on a regular basis. In fact, during the height of the drought it met on a weekly basis, sometimes two or three times a week, depending on the extent of the crisis. I was a member of that Water Security Council and we received regular reports and updates from the various consultants and government agencies that supported us in the decision-making processes we had around the drought.

Just to remind people of the sorts of things that we were being told: we were seeing the modelling of salinity which was creeping back up the river towards our intake pipes to the extent that we were making provisions for bottled water in some country towns and we also considered plumbing into the groundwater resources in and around Adelaide to try to achieve a mere 10 gigalitres to stave off the loss of drinking water supplies to Adelaide. Those were the sorts of decisions that we were being confronted with.

We then reached the point where we made a decision to say yes to the desalination plant. At the same time, when we were making those decisions, it became apparent there was a question about the choice of the size of the plant. We now know that Western Australia made the decision to go with the smaller plant and then rebuilt another one at an extraordinary extra cost. We were determined to make the correct decision, so we took advice from those doing the modelling concerning our additional needs and also the engineers who will assist us to make these judgements.

So, the Water Security Council and cabinet received briefings from KPMG and WorleyParsons and the modelling and advice that informed their reports was given to us to inform the cabinet decision made to choose the 100 gigalitre plant.