DESALINATION PLANT

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg) (15:02): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier instruct the Minister for Water to table the Adelaide desalination plant operation and management contract? Two years ago, the opposition applied for access to the operation and maintenance contract to better understand what the government had locked us into but was denied access. After reviewing the decision, the Ombudsman said publishing the document would be in the public interest but that it could not be published because the government had inserted a confidentiality clause in it. However, the Ombudsman also said that that did not prevent the minister from tabling the document in parliament.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton—Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:03): Well, a bit like your leadership over there—put that out for consultation as well.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P. CAICA: Who did you vote for, Steven?

The SPEAKER: Minister, you don't refer to members by their names.

The Hon. P. CAICA: I'm sorry, Madam Speaker, but I am responding to interjections.

The Hon. I.F. EVANS: Point of order, Madam Speaker: the minister is upset Peter Malinauskas got to visit Mr Rann and he didn't!

The SPEAKER: Order! You will sit down. We will not have frivolous points of order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister.

The Hon. P. CAICA: I apologise for my unruly behaviour, but really they are an undisciplined rabble, Madam Speaker, with respect to the level of interjections that are always coming.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P. CAICA: And sometimes I just have no choice but to respond.

The SPEAKER: Order! You will get back to the question now, minister.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: I am standing up. I am very pleased, Madam Speaker, that he is another one—every player wins a prize and he has got one.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P. CAICA: He is now the parliamentary secretary assisting—

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, you will sit down.

Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order, Madam Speaker—

The SPEAKER: If your point of order is answering the question—

Ms CHAPMAN: In the remaining minute, can I have an answer?

The SPEAKER: Yes, minister, you will answer the question now.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Of course, Madam Speaker, I do feel sorry for those who have not won a prize, particularly the one who is sitting at the back who is by far their best performer.

The SPEAKER: Minister, back to the question.

The Hon. P. CAICA: In relation to this particular question—

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: There is another one that didn't win a prize. The most vocal over there are the ones who did not win a prize.

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Finniss, do you want to go for a walk?

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: I am not wound up at all, but I will say this: confidentiality clauses are a matter between two parties, not just inserted by a government. They would be—

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: It's the nature of the contract.

The Hon. P. CAICA: That's right. It is the nature of the contract that relates to—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Listen to the minister's answer; you have been asking for it.

The Hon. P. CAICA: She is getting wound up.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P. CAICA: She is getting emotional and wound up.

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: He is answering the question now. Minister.

The Hon. P. CAICA: I am attempting to answer the question. The nature of a confidentiality clause is exactly that: that information will remain confidential. That has been cited for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is ensuring that those arrangements do not compromise the way in which business is being done but, just as importantly, do not compromise the way by which business will be done in the future in South Australia with respect to contracts between business and government.