Water Levies

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:16): Supplementary, Mr President: will the minister table the water initiative so that the parliament can actually study it? Secondly, how is the minister going to address a hike of up to 300 per cent for the South-East when the act says, unless they have special reasons, they can only go up at CPI? Does he expect the NRC of the parliament to rubber-stamp this draconian, outrageous proposition?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:16): The National Water Initiative is a public document. I am sure if the member rifles through his office, he has probably got a copy on his shelf, although these days he will probably download it from some source or other. In terms of the NRC, I am sure they will make decisions, as they always do, on the basis of common-sense approaches.