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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-05-30 Daily Xml
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MURRAY-DARLING BASIN PLAN

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:12): My question is to the Premier. Why did the Premier mislead the public by suggesting that modelling undertaken—

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Point of order, Madam Speaker.

The SPEAKER: Point of order. I anticipate your point of order, and it is entirely out of order to make a statement like 'mislead the public'. You will reword your question or it will not be allowed.

Mrs REDMOND: I will reword the question. My question is still to the Premier. Why did the Premier suggest that modelling undertaken by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority was being kept from the government when the government had not even asked for it?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:12): The opposition leader suffers from this deficiency: she cannot condition her second question to my first answer. I have told her we have, in fact—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Not only have I told her that we, in fact, did ask for this modelling, it is on the—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will be quiet or leave the chamber.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I think the point now is that, because I suggested further modelling should be done, that somehow is materially different from requesting further modelling. I am afraid that is a distinction which is too fine for my somewhat poor legal mind.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's right, one of those intelligent questions. Madam Speaker, this is just arrant nonsense. We have, on the public record on 16 April—and, indeed, in all of my public remarks—the contention that what the authority needed to do was to get rid of this nonsense, this excuse that somehow they were constrained from modelling the sorts of numbers that are needed to return this river to its health. Somehow they were constrained from doing that. We simply asked them to carry out their task. What is at stake here is a pretty simple matter—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: What is at stake here is the future health of this river, which is vital to South Australia's interests. Instead of actually deciding to join with us and maximising our leverage on the commonwealth decision-making process, those opposite have chosen, for some unknown reason, to score some cheap political points and some debating point. This is the extent of the research: you read the paper in the morning and you tell us all what it means. Well, one, you get it wrong; and, two, where does that fit into your responsibilities—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Where does that fit into your responsibilities to stand up for South Australia? There is only one thing at stake here: that is the unity of this state in standing up for the state interest. Why don't you stand up for our state's interests?

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