WATER SECURITY

Mrs GERAGHTY (Torrens) (15:19): My question is to the Minister for Water and the River Murray. What benefits arise from the government's approach to delivering water security for Adelaide over the coming decades?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton—Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:19): I thank the honourable member for her very important question. As we all know and as the Premier highlighted, only three years ago that we were in the grip of the worst drought on record, a drought that seemed endless, and a strategy of waiting for rain was too risky an approach.

In this context, as the Premier also said, the government sought expert advice before taking the decision to build a desalination plant and then the decision to increase its size. The desalination plant was welcomed by the City of Onkaparinga Mayor, Lorraine Rosenberg, as being capable of providing a significant boost to economic development in the region. Of course, we still expect it is going to underpin our economic development, as the Premier said.

Given the complexities of the matters that needed to be considered at the time, and given that the decision involved large investments, we were transparent about the increase in the water prices. It was complex and politically difficult, but the right thing to do for and by South Australia in the long term was to build the desalination plant that would underpin our economic development. In building this plant, the government is securing Adelaide's water needs through a rainfall independent source that can be relied upon when our traditional sources, our local catchments and our River Murray entitlement cannot provide us with certainty during cycles of drought.

These decisions mean that our children and grandchildren will have a reliable source of clean drinking water, even when the inevitable dry spells return. It is also helping to underpin, as I mentioned, and the Premier did, our economic future and the expansion of our population by providing certainty for investment and job creation—certainty that Adelaide's future demand for water can be met regardless of climatic conditions over the next decades. It is curious to note the shrill criticism of the opposition in relation to building the desalination plant. It is very much at odds with their previous enthusiasm for desalination.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P. CAICA: In 2007, in this house the member for Waite—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P. CAICA: —one of apparently many challengers for the Liberal leadership, said, 'We must have a desalination plant.' But he had been beaten to the call by the member for Finniss, who had earlier insisted that 'an enormous desalination plant for Adelaide was an imperative'. The deputy leader paraded his unabashed support for a desalination plant in 2007, describing Ross Young, then chief executive of the Water Services Association, as a man who was at the cutting edge of water supply around the nation, and going on to quote Mr Young as saying, 'Rainfall independent sources such as desalination are going to be absolutely imperative for all coastal cities in the long run.'

What have we seen from the opposition? The opposition's desert of water policy, that familiar short-term, ad hoc policymaking, some of the short-term thinking that gave us the one-way expressway, which is now being finished properly. The proposed 50 gigalitre plant which—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order, Deputy Leader of the Opposition.

Mr WILLIAMS: Surely this is debate.

The SPEAKER: Yes, I uphold that point of order. Minister, the question was not about the opposition policy. Have you finished your question?

The Hon. P. CAICA: No, it wasn't. Indeed, it is about the security that has been provided by—

The SPEAKER: Can you go back to the substance of the question.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Of course, Madam Speaker, I will. The proposed 50 gigalitre desalination plant was still going to add and run Adelaide short of water. Of course, in hindsight, and apparently on a mere whim, in October last year—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: This is important—the Leader of the Opposition told listeners on radio that the Liberals in government would have waited to see if we needed more than 50 gigalitres and maybe perhaps plonk—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order.

Mr WILLIAMS: The minister is again debating.

The SPEAKER: Yes, thank you. I will again refer you back to the question, minister. You have 21 seconds remaining.

The Hon. P. CAICA: This is fact: that—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, you have 18 seconds remaining.

The Hon. P. CAICA: —thank you very much—in fact, would have waited to see if we needed another 50 gigalitres by plonking another 50 gigalitre plant up further on the north side. There is a host of other quotes, of course. The member for Chaffey said:

The desal plant has been increased from a 50GL desal plant. I applauded that because I thought it was a great diversification, with Adelaide's water requirements and also a drought measure.

The SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired, as has question time.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I'm sorry, your time has expired.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I'm not sorry. If you had stuck to the subject we could have—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Members please leave their seats or sit down and be quiet.