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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-12-03 Daily Xml
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WATER PRICING

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop) (14:56): My question is to the Treasurer. Why did the Treasurer today in his ministerial statement fail to reveal to the house and the public of South Australia what will be the actual dollar per kilolitre charge for water for 2010-11 and will the government now reveal the dollar per kilolitre charge for each of the tariff levels?

I have taken the opportunity to check the record going back to the year 2003 and, in each of the previous years, the government, when announcing the water prices for the following year, has been big enough to reveal the actual per kilolitre charge. Today, they refused to do that.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Federal/State Relations) (14:57): It is gazetted and, when it is gazetted, it is in the Gazette, and I have just been advised by my colleague that it is in the press release. We have gone public on it. I just did not want to bore the house with too many statistics. The press release is out there; you've got it up in the leader's office by now, no doubt. I would have hoped that after—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: The TV have got it in a press release; they will put it up on the television.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: A secret press release!

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: With all due respect—

Mr WILLIAMS: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Order! I will take the point of order in a minute. The member for MacKillop.

Mr WILLIAMS: I would hate for the Treasurer to inadvertently mislead anyone, sir, but my information is that it is not in the Gazette.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: No; it's not published yet.

Mr Williams: You said it was in the Gazette.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Speaker is on his feet. The Deputy Premier.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I said it will be gazetted.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I don't know when the Gazette comes out. What I do know is that it's in here, and I have to tell you that the media, these guys up here—the brilliant TV reporters that we are lucky to have in this state—my guess is that they will not say, 'To advise you of what your water charges will be, viewers at home just sit there and listen to Kevin Foley say it in parliament.' No, they will not do that. What they prefer is to do what we do, and The Advertiser also needs to have it. They will repeat on screen what is there if that is what they want to do.

Mr WILLIAMS: Read it out.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: You read it.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: What a nonsense.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: You want me to read it all out? All right.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: No, don't; they've got some more questions.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: No, we've got more questions. Get a press release for the opposition, if any of my staff are listening. Can we have some press releases from my staff? The media are fully aware of what the kilolitre charges are across the band, but can I say, on the last question time of the parliament, you really have to be able to do a lot better than this.

Mr Williams: You're hiding it.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: It is in the press release.

Mr Williams: It's not published.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: It's going to be published in the next Gazette. You don't put it in the Gazette before you announce it. Then we would be accused of not announcing it on time.

Mr Williams: You didn't announce it; that's the point. You are hiding it and you know it.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for MacKillop.

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