SA Water

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:48): A supplementary, sir: why did the government spend $100,000 and commission KPMG to look at the privatisation of some SA Water assets if it had no intention whatsoever of ever privatising any assets within SA Water?

The SPEAKER: Given that the leader imputes to the government an intention which I am sure the Treasurer is now going to deny the government ever had, it is this kind of bombastic question that leads to bombastic answers.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Small Business) (14:48): I will attempt to rise above the bombastic answer, sir, and bring the house back into order from a disorderly question that the Leader of the Opposition asked. There are two types of state governments in this country. There are good examples in Queensland and New South Wales of governments wanting to privatise their assets and taking them to the election. Premier Campbell Newman and Premier Mike Baird are taking asset privatisations to the respective elections in their state and are seeking a mandate to sell those assets. At the last election—

Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order, Mr Speaker. The minister is not responsible for other governments. The question was very clear: if you are not going to sell these assets, why was the KPMG report commissioned?

The SPEAKER: Will the deputy leader be seated. What the Treasurer is doing is a time-honoured device of ministers of comparing and contrasting the South Australian government with other governments. He is allowed to do that in the context of the question. Treasurer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Sir, those governments have made their positions clear: they are privatising essential utilities and they wish to invest that money into infrastructure and debt reduction. We on this side of the house, in this government in South Australia, went to the election with a commitment not to privatise SA Water—and we have kept our word. The Premier has kept his word.

We did not meet with consultants before the election and say, 'Please give us costings on privatising the Motor Accident Commission; please tell us what you think we can get for this,' but others have—others have. The Leader of the Opposition, in the parliament, is saying he had no such discussions with any consultants or any accounting agencies about privatisations. It is very interesting that the Leader of the Opposition, under the rules of parliament, has denied ever speaking to anyone about privatising SA Water.

Mr PISONI: Point of order, sir: the minister has been spending nearly the last minute talking about the Leader of the Opposition. He is not responsible for the Leader of the Opposition.

The SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Judge the government on its actions and its intentions. We will not be privatising SA Water.