House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-10-30 Daily Xml

Contents

Water Industry Reform

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:15): Has the government or Treasury undertaken any modelling in relation to the impact of a third-party access regime on SA Water's dividend?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Small Business) (14:15): Lots of things can impact the dividend that SA Water pays. As I was articulating to the house yesterday, in the final year of the last Liberal government, they took $170 million in today's money out of SA Water compared to $26 million that Labor has taken out—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley is called to order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —this year. If the modelling has been done, Treasury do modelling on all types of scenarios that involve utilities and assets that we own.

Mr Gardner: Lots of secret plans.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The Opposition Whip says they have secret plans.

Mr Gardner: That's not what I said.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: You said 'secret plans'. It seems to me, if you want to talk about secret plans, I think the Treasurer—

Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Yes, point of order.

Ms CHAPMAN: In one breath, the Treasurer is indicating that he will get an answer, and then the rest of it's just waffle. So, we either have an answer or not—clearly not.

The SPEAKER: That the answer is waffle is not a point of order.

Ms CHAPMAN: Well, it's not relevant. It's not relevant to the question—anywhere near it.

The SPEAKER: That is a disorderly point of order. Treasurer.

Mr Goldsworthy: It's not germane.

The SPEAKER: Yes, the member for Kavel is correct. Treasurer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: A little bit of auditioning going on.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Don't worry, it won't hurt a bit.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It won't hurt.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It will be painless. You will go to sleep and just wake up and it will be a different job; you'll be fine.

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, Mr Speaker?

The SPEAKER: —is called to order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, sir; I apologise. Treasury do modelling on many scenarios. As I have said to the house on many occasions, it is only proper that Treasury offer the very best advice they can to the government of the day but, again, policy is decided by elected representatives and elected governments, not by unelected officials. We are the ones who decide policy. We are the ones who decide whether utilities are held in public or private hands.

Mr Knoll interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is called to order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Judge us on what we do. Don't judge us on what the bureaucracy investigates.