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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-02-12 Daily Xml
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Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:37): So everyone on the government's side is well behaved? Okay. Thank you, Mr Speaker—

The SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, if that happens again, I will throw you out.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to—

The SPEAKER: Thank you. The Leader of the Opposition has the call.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: My question is to the Premier. What recommendations of the Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission will the Premier accept or rule out?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:37): Thank you very much for this question. We have already made it clear that this is a very substantial report, in excess of 740 pages and 111 findings and dozens and dozens and dozens of recommendations. We have made it clear in all of our public statements that we will not be doing a rule-in rule-out at this point in time. We want to have consideration, as you would be aware—sorry, as the Leader of the Opposition would be aware, sir, but you would also be aware because you are a very learned man.

The SPEAKER: Indeed.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Most of the recommendations are not recommendations to the South Australian government; in fact, they deal with other jurisdictions, both individually and collectively. They deal with the federal government. They deal with the federal Auditor-General. The thing about this report is that it's quite different from what was promised by the opposition when they were in government as to what this report was about, but what we've got—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: That's the thing about royal commissions: they're independent.

The SPEAKER: Member for West Torrens, please!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —is a very significant body of work that needs to be dealt with very effectively. What I do find interesting, though—and I am wondering whether the Leader of the Opposition might offer something to the house today or maybe this week; he's got plenty of time to think about it—is it seems to me that as we are meeting in this parliament the federal parliament is meeting and they are considering something very serious, that is, basically lifting the lid, if you like, the upper limit on the water buybacks.

It would be very interesting to know from the Leader of the Opposition this week whether or not he supports compulsory water buybacks in South Australia. I know that we are not interested in compulsory water buybacks in South Australia that damage our local communities and would devastate our river communities, who have already done so much of the heavy lifting in this area. This sort of recommendation doesn't sit well with us. What I am interested in, though, is: how does it sit with the Labor Party in South Australia?

Are they going to back the people along the river communities in South Australia, or back their fellow travellers in Canberra—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: Premier, there is a point of order. I will hear the point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Sir, the Premier is questioning our Labor Party policy: (1) it's debate.

The SPEAKER: Debate, and how the Labor Party policy is related to the question. The Premier must stick to the substance of the question. It was a very broad topic. I will be listening carefully. No, he has finished. He has finished his answer. There's a supplementary and then I will move to my right. Supplementary, leader.

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