House of Assembly Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1) 54 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Waste Management Waste Management Dr CLOSE House of Assembly Port Adelaide Deputy Leader of the Opposition Waste Management Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:09): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Water. Why did the minister make public statements supporting consideration of fortnightly rubbish collections, only to backflip a few hours later? Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left! Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left! The minister will be heard in silence. Interjections between the time of a question and an answer eat into the time available for question time—they do. It eats into the time available for question time. The minister has the call. The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS House of Assembly Black Minister for Environment and Water The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (15:10): I thank the deputy leader for her question. I was asked a question in the media as to what I would do to support the waste industry to develop and continue to drive a sense of leadership and innovation across the nation. I said that I was open to any ideas that were put to me— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS House of Assembly The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —and I remain open to working with that industry. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS House of Assembly The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: However, the sort of hysteria that is put forward by the Labor Party around fortnightly rubbish collections was never something that was canvassed broadly— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The minister has the call. The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS House of Assembly The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: It was never something that was canvassed specifically, and it was certainly something that I was— Members interjecting: The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS House of Assembly The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: So I was simply— Members interjecting: The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS House of Assembly The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Mr Speaker, I will wait to be heard in silence. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Members on my left will cease interjecting. The Minister for Environment has the call and is attempting to answer the question. I am listening. The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS House of Assembly The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: As I was saying, I am always more than happy to sit down and work with local councils and the waste management sector and discuss ways in which they can innovate and grow their industry, become more efficient and provide a good service to South Australians. I have made very clear that we are in a situation in South Australia at the moment where we are not ready to move to fortnightly waste collections for a range of reasons, and I said publicly at a press conference yesterday that I did not see us being in a situation where we could transition to that for the foreseeable future. I remain completely confident to make that statement publicly because South Australians just aren't ready for that situation at the moment.