Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:21): When will the government finally respond to the Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission recommendations and findings?

The SPEAKER: That question is in order. Premier.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:21): Thank you, sir. I have responded to that previously. We are working through that report at the moment and when we are through that report—and, as I have stated in this house before, there are many people who we will be consulting with—we will present our response to that royal commission report. I don't have an exact date for the chamber at the moment. I would much rather have the right response rather than a quick response. So we will be providing a response to the royal commission report into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

We note that originally the former government commissioned this royal commission in response to the Four Corners report that talked about water theft, in particular in New South Wales and I think Queensland also. The final report didn't address this issue—well, it did actually. It said, 'We are not going to address the issue,' so we didn't quite get—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —what was promised by the former premier. The Leader of the Opposition has asserted that the royal commissioner was going to look at that issue if he was given an extension of time. That's not correct.

The Hon. V.A. Chapman: He wanted to look at the fish.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: That's not correct whatsoever. I would ask the Leader of the Opposition at some point to reflect on those comments that he made incorrectly in this chamber and come back and correct the record.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the Leader of the Opposition, I remind members that I have given some latitude for the first 15 minutes of question time. I ask for the standard to please lift. The member for Ramsay, the leader, the member for Giles and the member for Lee are all called to order, and the member for Playford is warned. The leader, then the member for Waite.