DESALINATION PLANT

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (14:53): I have a supplementary question arising from that delusional answer. Does the minster anticipate that if there were a drought in the future, as severe as the millennium drought, the desalination plant would be required to be used?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:53): The honourable member invites me to gaze into her crystal ball and predict what the environmental conditions will be into the future. As I said, the desalination plant is there as security for our water security into the future. If the conditions require it, the desalination plant will be used. I have been through this before. We will use the cheaper source of water first, but there will come a time when we are faced with an equal, if not worse, drought than we saw early this millennium—in the first 10 years, the first decade—and, of course, we have water security through a desal plant now for Adelaide and for South Australia.