SA Water

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:34): I seek leave to make a brief explanation prior to directing a question to the Minister for Water and the River Murray on the subject of privatisation.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: It has now been revealed publicly that, under the Weatherill Labor government, in October 2012, immediately after Mr Weatherill became Premier, Treasury appointed KPMG to undertake a study into the privatisation of some SA Water assets. It has also been revealed that the Weatherill Labor government paid $100,000 to KPMG for that work.

It has also been placed on the public record that the Under Treasurer, Brett Rowse, had a confidential discussion with Dr Paul Kerin, the former CEO of ESCOSA, and told Dr Kerin that the government was considering privatisation of some SA Water assets. Given the statements that minister Hunter and others have made claiming that they have opposed privatisation for many years and continue to oppose privatisation, my two questions to the minister are:

1. Will the minister now admit that in October 2012 the Weatherill Labor government appointed KPMG and paid them $100,000 to provide advice on the sale of some SA Water assets?

2. Given the Under Treasurer has confirmed to Dr Kerin that the government was considering the sale of some SA Water assets at that time, what assets was the government considering privatising and, in particular, did it include the sale of the desal plant?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:36): I thank the honourable member for his most important questions, although I reject at the outset all of the hyperbole and loose facts that form the premise of his question. As the Victorian state government has found out over the weekend and the federal government is finding out now, governments are judged on what they say they will do and then what they deliver on. This government revealed publicly in the lead-up to the election that we will not be privatising SA Water or its assets.

This government put on the public record what our intentions were for SA Water, as opposed to what the Liberal Party wanted to put on the record. The former Liberal government, in which the honourable member I think was a treasurer at some stage or another, was judged on its privatisation of the electricity network, which has had a disastrous impact on the cost of living, brought to you by the Liberal Party of South Australia. As I said prior to the March election, we on this side made a firm commitment to keep SA Water in public hands and not to privatise assets of SA Water. We retain that commitment—

The Hon. K.J. Maher: It's what we've done.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: —and that is what we have done and that is what we have delivered on.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Maher, the minister has the call.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: I think the Hon. Mr Lucas has actually been on the record on the radio at some stage admitting that the commonwealth budget has resulted in the loss of $898 million to the South Australian budget from the commonwealth over the next four years. This is what happens when you have a Liberal commonwealth government that goes to an election saying one thing—no cuts to health, no cuts to education, no cuts to the ABC, no cuts to SBS—and what do they do now?

They tell us, this Liberal commonwealth government, that in fact they would not trust South Australians to build a canoe, even though we have a highly experienced team down at Techport doing that work, and even though we have a fantastic South Australian company, owned by the commonwealth government, strangely enough. We get told, 'No, South Australians can't even do the job,' even while they are building ships for the Australian Navy. I think this man—

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: Point of order, sir.

The PRESIDENT: Point of order.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: The point of order is relevance. The question is: was $100,000 paid for KPMG reports—nothing to do with the ASC. Can we have an answer for once?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: I wonder what the honourable member was doing in the cabinet room when he was a member of cabinet when they talked about privatising ETSA. What did he do? He put his hand up, he said, 'Yes'—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: —'let's sell off those state assets and'—

The PRESIDENT: Minister, can you get this over quickly if you can, please?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Thank you, Mr President, for that guidance. This government places a very high value on keeping our essential services in public hands and that is exactly what we will do.