House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-11-12 Daily Xml

Contents

DESALINATION PLANT

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:07): I have a supplementary question. In light of the minister's evasive answer—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: In light of the minister's answer, will she itemise the cost estimate for the plant, the land, the remediation of the site, and each of the transfer pipelines and associated infrastructure? Will she outline the estimate?

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD (Chaffey—Minister for the River Murray, Minister for Water Security) (14:07): Once again, I fail to understand how someone in the leader's position can be so ignorant—

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: —of the processes. The process is that we undertake early estimates of what we the believe the plant is going to be, but it is subject to—

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The leader has asked his question.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: —a procurement process.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: We are not going to go out and detail and itemise what we think the tenderers should be providing us with. We would like a competitive process, whereby each of the contractors will give us—

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: —their best bid. That is why we have a competitive process. We do not go out and say, 'Here's what we think it is,' so they put in the highest offer. We have a competitive process for all of the elements—

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The leader will come to order.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: I think it would be useful if the Leader of the Opposition read the information that we released yesterday. He would then have a better understanding of what is included and what is not included. The EIS that was released yesterday, the information that was provided to the Public Works Committee yesterday, details what the estimate includes. I think the Leader of the Opposition should do his homework.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The house will come to order.