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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-27 Daily Xml
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Murray-Darling Basin Plan

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:49): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Water. How much of the 450 gigalitres of water for the environment in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan has been recovered and allocated since 14 December 2018? With your leave, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Dr CLOSE: Following the finding in the Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission that the minister acted contrary to the state's interests in doing a deal with the Eastern States on water efficiency projects, the minister said in this place on 13 February 2019:

What I achieved…on 14 December 2018 was a historic pathway to water. Our pathway…leads to water.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (14:50): I am glad the deputy leader, firstly, raises the River Murray in this place and, secondly, quotes my statements about that historic pathway—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hurtle Vale!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —because there is more activity happening up and down the Murray-Darling Basin—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Playford is warned.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —than ever before. The fake fights are over. The noise, the gestures, the poster-waving, the icons—and the fake fights are still going on.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Playford is warned for a second time.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Listen to them, everyone—or listen to them, Mr Speaker, should I say. The fake fights continue, the noise and the bluster, but what we are seeing is activity right up and down the Murray-Darling Basin—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Ramsay!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —and it is going exceptionally well. It is going exceptionally well.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Deputy Premier!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: We know that those opposite really didn't deliver any water from the 450 component of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, and they actually don't want to. What we have seen is a marked change in the deputy leader's and the Labor Party's rhetoric around this because as we sign up more and more projects towards the 450, they continue to say—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —that the water won't come.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Wright!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Well, they have started to change that language now and say that there's not enough water coming, that there was never going to be any water under the leadership that the Marshall Liberal government showed. But now the water is coming. We know—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Cheltenham!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: I remember in a speech that the Leader of the Opposition said that under the Labor Party the water would come one day—one day. Well, we know it's coming because we've got these projects locked in. The deputy leader, the last time she asked me questions here, got a real shock when I revealed the 15-gigalitre project towards the 450. They say 15 is not enough—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —15 is a huge project. They got one gigalitre—15 times what they delivered with their fake fights and their nonsense, and we know where their gigalitre came from. It came from South Australia. They gave up water in South Australia. We've got a major 15-gigalitre project from the Goulburn Valley signed up and coordinated under this plan.

They hate that good news. They hate the water flowing down to the Lower Lakes to the Coorong to the Mouth and delivering life-sustaining water to these precious wetlands around the Coorong and, of course, to our irrigators here as well. They don't want success under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. They bandy around false science—

The SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat for a moment. The member for West Torrens on a point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Two standing orders, sir: 98 and 127, digression and personal reflections on members.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right! The member for West Torrens is entitled to be heard in silence.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The minister is debating the answer and he is also assigning a motive to members of the opposition claiming we don't want success for South Australia. That's not true, sir.

The SPEAKER: Well, as I—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! As I suspect the member for West Torrens well knows, there's no point of order under standing order 127, at least for the moment. I uphold the point of order under 98(a). The question was quite clear in its terms. The minister was addressing the answer. I'm listening carefully. The minister will direct his response to the question.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Thank you, Mr Speaker, for your direction. I do think just a tiny little bit of compare and contrast was necessary, but I will get back to the—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —basis of the question. So far, 2.1 gigalitres of the 450 has been delivered—of course, that is still a lot more than Labor ever managed. These projects need to be largely on their way by 2024. They are major, major infrastructure projects up and down the basin, and the reconciliation of the plan will take place in 2024.

I have always said that, even if a project isn't fully delivered by 2024, we shouldn't just pull up stumps and go home. That's like running a marathon and pulling up because you're not beating your personal best by halfway around, to use a sporting analogy. I sit beside the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, so I've got to do that. We've got projects locked in. We should not walk away from them. Some aspects of this plan are taking longer; rather than playing politics, we care about the environment.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the deputy leader, I warn the member for Chaffey, I warn the member for Cheltenham, I warn the member for Wright, I warn the Deputy Premier, I call to order the Premier and I warn for a second time the member for West Torrens. The member for Playford will leave for 20 minutes in accordance with standing order 137A.

The honourable member for Playford having withdrawn from the chamber:

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