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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-09-05 Daily Xml
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Climate Change

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:50): A further supplementary.

The SPEAKER: Supplementary, last supplementary.

Dr CLOSE: Can the minister inform the chamber what the cuts are in this budget to the climate change program in his department?

The Hon. S.S. Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Premier!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (15:50): That is publicly available information, but I am happy to provide some commentary on that. It is great to get my fourth ever question from the part-time shadow minister for environment. Interestingly—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Minister, I ask you to withdraw.

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Minister, I have asked you to withdraw that comment. I ask you to withdraw that comment and continue.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: I withdraw that comment, Mr Speaker.

The SPEAKER: Thank you.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Please, I ask the house to forgive me.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The minister will be heard in silence. I would like to hear his answer.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I would like to hear his answer.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: I do know, Mr Speaker—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —that the deputy leader was a minister in the previous government, which undertook a 32 per cent reduction in the environment department's budget. She sat around the table—the great environmentalist from Port Adelaide, the great defender of our environment—a 32 per cent reduction, so she can't throw stones in here.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Well, no. The world ended on 17 March—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order, minister. Before I deal with the member for West Torrens, I ask the member for Mawson to withdraw the comment 'dolphin killers'.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I withdraw the comment 'dolphin killers', Mr Speaker.

The SPEAKER: Thank you. The member for West Torrens, a point of order?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, sir. The question was very specific about a $11 million cut and anything else is debate, sir.

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order. Minister, will you please return to the substance of the question, thank you.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is correct to note that Carbon Neutral Adelaide, that great icon, that empty slogan of the previous government, is having—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left! I am trying to hear the minister.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: It is our intention to reduce funding for Carbon Neutral Adelaide by $1 million. We will retain $250,000 to continue the few elements of that program we think were valuable—mostly partnerships between the state government and the Adelaide city council. It was great to meet with the Lord Mayor today to discuss those programs.

As I mentioned, this budget has more climate change expenditure than any other previous budget. And they will scream at the end of the gimmicks and the slogans and the logos, but what we are doing is getting on with the job. One program I didn't update you on, where we are putting an extra $2 million over four years, is Greener Neighbourhoods: more street trees; more investment in our city parks, particularly our precious Parklands. So, there's an extra $2 million.

Dr Close interjecting:

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: The deputy leader screams because of symbolism and gesture and virtue signalling. She screams at the reduction of Carbon Neutral Adelaide coming down by $1 million, but we are having an extra $2 million in Greener Neighbourhoods. We are creating Green Adelaide, another new program—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —focused—

Dr Close interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Anyone can scream, deputy leader, men or women, so don't make those sorts of attacks at me.

The SPEAKER: Please, do not respond to interjections.

Dr Close interjecting:

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: No, no. You always go back to the gesture.

The SPEAKER: Is the minister finished?

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Don't do that. The gesture and the icon—

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister will be seated, thank you, minister. The member for Florey has the call. The member for Florey has been patiently waiting and has the call.

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