Desalination Plant

Mr FULBROOK (Playford) (14:52): My question is to the Minister for Climate, Environment and Water. Can the minister explain the process that resulted in the recent nomination of Sleaford west as the preferred site for the Eyre desalination plant by the local site selection committee and any implications for the cost of the project?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Minister for Defence and Space Industries, Minister for Climate, Environment and Water) (14:53): I thank the member for his question. Members of this house may well be aware of the history of this issue. There is a critical need to provide an independent water source for Eyre Peninsula. Uley South basin currently provides over three quarters of the drinking water supply for the Eyre region, with most of the remainder coming from the River Murray.

The Uley South basin and its bore field is the last remaining major productive groundwater source on Eyre Peninsula and it's therefore very important to the region, and its health is constantly monitored by SA Water. That monitoring has made it clear that the basin is under serious pressure and that augmentation of supply is urgent; in fact, initially, the identification was that it would become urgent in the summer of 2023-24. Fortunately, we have had some rain, and that has pushed that out to around December 2025.

In 2018, SA Water's board approved construction of a desalination plant. In August 2019, three years ago, the former Liberal government granted approval for a new saltwater desalination plant at the cost of nearly $100 million. This original site was in Sleaford Bay, but after further work by SA Water, geological conditions suggested that this would be a challenging site to build on and would involve additional costs. This resulted in an alternative preferred site being announced in October 2021, the site at Billy Lights Point, with first water expected in 2023.

However, as many people will know if they have paid attention to regional media in particular, there was local pushback about this and many concerns from locals, so the former minister announced a 12-month pause, and he established an independent site selection committee that was led by the former MP Peter Treloar. I think all of us can attest to the quality of Peter and his work. I have met several times with Peter Treloar. I have recently met with representatives of the group, including Peter, and I believe and I have conveyed to them that they have done good and diligent work to look at the options available.

They have identified a new site at Sleaford west, a finding announced only a few weeks ago, and this is because of a process that was established by my predecessor in this portfolio. This site has not yet had full geological testing done, although SA Water is working on that at present. Initial estimates of the cost of the construction on this site are that it could be around $100 million more than the original site approved by the former government.

Here we are, being challenged in the media by the former minister, saying that I am dithering: following a process established by a previous minister, who put a 12-month pause and set up a committee with no sense of where the additional money would come from. The committee has duly done its work and presented it to me, and this is being characterised as dithering.

The real challenge is how this is going to be funded. The real challenge is: is there any likelihood, any prospect, of additional funding being sourced for another site? It could be suggested that what the previous minister did was push a difficult decision past the election, establish a process that would raise people's hopes, establish a process that involved—

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: Deputy Premier, there is a point of order, which I will hear under 134.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: At this stage, this is pure debate. It's a rhetorical device, it's personal and it's irrelevant to the question that was asked.

The Hon. D.J. Speirs: And it's dithering.

The SPEAKER: Order! An appeal has been made to a number of standing orders. I will listen carefully. I will ask the Deputy Premier to come back to the substance of the question.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: The question of how this is to be funded is a serious one. This is one of the projects that I have inherited from the previous government, established as a process. A halt was put on a decision that had previously been made. A process was established that has now been received that suggested an alternative site, being Sleaford west, germane to the question. But no process was established for how additional funding would be sourced—none whatsoever. The gall of the former minister, accusing us of dithering when he himself established the process that has taken time, is extraordinary.