DESALINATION PLANTS

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:51): The minister mentioned the doubling of the Mount Bold Reservoir. My supplementary question is: where is the water coming from to fill it?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (14:51): I am not the minister for water, but what I do know is that the Mount Bold Reservoir has two sources: one is the local catchment area and the other is the River Murray. The third response, of course, will be that ultimately if you do have a desalination plant you will need somewhere which can operate all the time, you will need to store it—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: What a joke!

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Well, how do you think water gets delivered?

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: How do you think? Are you going to desalinate water and put it in a dam to let birds crap in it? You're off the planet! You don't understand what you're on about.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: What I do understand—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Leader of the Opposition will come to order.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! If honourable members would like to waste their question time, that is fine by me.