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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-11-27 Daily Xml
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LOWER MURRAY ROADSHOW

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (14:47): My question is to the Minister for Water and the River Murray. Will the minister inform the chamber of his attendance at the Lower Murray Roadshow in Murray Bridge last night?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:47): How did you know that?

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: Gerry knows that's what you had a pair for.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Oh, okay. I thank the honourable member for his most important and prescient question, happening only last night, but, as the Hon. Mr Dawkins says, everybody knows that I went to Murray Bridge last night to spend some time with the Lower Murray Roadshow, and it was a very interesting evening.

The roadshow is a three-day tour and is a series of meetings between senior commonwealth and state officials and stakeholders on key economic and social issues facing the Lower Murray region. It is this Labor government that has fought so hard to protect this region, and we will continue to fight for the area. We stood up for the health of the River Murray to the federal government in Canberra when it was a federal Labor government, and we stood up to the upstream states to demand a final Murray-Darling Basin Plan, which would ensure the health of the basin. We stood together as a state with irrigators and environmentalists, river communities and South Australians across the board—

The Hon. G.E. Gago: No members of the opposition?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: —they may still come on board yet—to demand a plan which was based on the best science available to us at the time. As we know, the best available science showed us that a return of 2,750 gigalitres to the river was insufficient.

So, we demanded a better deal, and all the while those opposite, as they are doing now, refused to stand up to their Liberal colleagues in the Eastern States, and even now that the government has changed at a federal level, they refuse to stand up to their federal Liberal counterparts. They begged us to accept the clapped-out old Mazda deal that was on the table, that New South Wales was forcing on us. They said, 'No, don't bother fighting for a better deal for the River Murray, you'll never get it,' the Liberals said, 'just take what's on offer from New South Wales; it's the best you're ever going to get.'

That is not what happened. It is the leadership of Premier Weatherill and this Labor government that achieved a final plan which will return 3,200 gigalitres to the river. In ensuring the health of the River Murray, this government was, of course, ensuring the sustainability of river communities and the sustainability of irrigation from our greatest natural resource. The additional 450 gigalitres that we won for the River Murray will only be returned in a socially and economically mutual or beneficial manner.

To achieve that additional return, we now have an additional $1.57 billion in commonwealth funding. The previous Labor government secured that money in a legislative fund. Will the current federal Liberal government stand up to that promise, or will they seek, as they are doing now—as the member for Sturt is doing now with Gonski—to walk away from the deals that were entered into in the past? Is that what they are doing, because that is what we see now happening in Canberra.

So much for a mandate! They did not tell the people of South Australia, let alone the country, that they were going to renege on that deal on education. They said, 'We stand with Labor and we will do exactly the same thing that Labor is doing on education.' Same page, same promise, same money; and now, eight weeks later, it is all gone. The member for Sturt says, 'Sorry, the deal's off. We are taking that money back.' We need the Liberal Party here in South Australia to stand up to those bullyboy tactics from the federal government, to stand up to their colleagues in the other states, and stand for South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: I am coming back to it, Mr President, under your guidance. We also won an additional $200 million of commonwealth funding made available to remove or reduce priority constraints. In addition, South Australia secured around $420 million for water recovery, industry regeneration, regional development and environmental work projects that will maximise the benefits for both the environment and our irrigator communities. One of these programs, the $265 million South Australia River Murray Sustainability—Irrigation Industry Improvement Program, is being rolled out now by the Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia and will support industry improvement and recovery water for the environment.

The roadshow allowed government officials and stakeholders to visit a number of impressive and important business, agricultural, Ngarrindjeri and tourism sites and, because the road show was organised to allow governments and stakeholders to discuss key economic and social issues facing the region, this was a perfect forum to talk about the risks to the region—and the biggest risk right now is the Liberal Party of Australia. As we have seen from those opposite, those in the Liberal Party do not care about the River Murray and they do not care about communities and irrigators who depend upon it.

In just 10 weeks of the federal Liberal government, we have seen how much the Liberals care about the river, its communities and its irrigators. We have already seen the deferral of $650 million in expenditure to address water buybacks. These water buybacks are essential to ensuring the successful implementation of a Murray-Darling Basin plan, but the Liberals say no. Then we have had the South Australian Liberal senator and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment, Mr Simon Birmingham, raise doubts over the federal government's commitment to the $1.77 billion fund secured by this government as part of our deal to sign up to the plan.

What have we heard from these members opposite? Silence. Absolute silence. Those opposite continue to refuse to stand up to their interstate colleagues. They continue to refuse to use their influence with the new commonwealth government—that is if they have any at all, because there is only one South Australian minister in the cabinet of this federal Liberal government. One South Australian minister.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Nobody's listening.

The PRESIDENT: Order, I'm listening!

The Hon. G.E. Gago: It's based on merit.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: That is based on merit, of course. Obviously, they select their cabinet on merit. The Liberals in South Australia have no-one meritorious enough to go into the cabinet. How many ministers from South Australia were in the Howard Liberal government? How many ministers from South Australia were in the Hawke and Keating Labor governments? And how many do we have now? That is what the federal Liberal government thinks about South Australia.

This is all we hear from the Liberal Party in South Australia—absolute nonsense. Even when there is a threat of removing $2.3 billion in federal funding, it is not enough to stir these people opposite into action. The lethargy is growing and growing. When was the last time you heard, Mr President, the Leader of the Opposition stand up to the federal Liberal government about the River Murray? When was the last time you heard Mr Steven Marshall, the member for Norwood in the other place, stand up for the South Australian irrigators? When was the last time you heard the Leader of the Opposition go out and fight for South Australia against the depredations that the federal Liberal government is about to visit on the river communities?

Instead of calling on their colleagues to live up to the commitments, the opposition calls for the government to switch on the desal plant, even when environmental conditions will not require it, at an increased cost to SA Water customers. They want South Australian taxpayers to pay more because they will not stand up to New South Wales and the commonwealth. They will not stand up for South Australian taxpayers.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: The Hon. Michelle Lensink will come in here and tell us that we should be paying more to support the poor New South Wales government, that we should be paying more to support New South Wales through the taxpayers of South Australia because they will not pay their share. We should shoulder the burden—this is the Liberals. They do not give a damn about South Australia. They do not give a damn and the federal commonwealth Liberal government does not give a damn either.

Mr President, I was very pleased to address the Lower Murray roadshow and speak to stakeholders about the support being provided to them as a result of the government's campaign, but now it is time for members opposite, and particularly the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Marshall, to clarify their position. Will they stand up to their colleagues interstate? When will they fight for the health of our river system? Just how and when will they use the desalination plant? Let them tell us that. Let them tell South Australians how they are going to turn on the desal plant and under what conditions.

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink: You can't tell us yourself.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Well, I told you yesterday how we are going about that.

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink: You did not.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: I told you exactly that, but you haven't got a clue. What are you going to do? What is it going to cost the budget under your plan to turn on the desal plant and activate it? That is their plan, Mr President. It is like the vibe: 'We'll activate the desal plant.' I do not know what that means. Turn it on, walk away and let it go forever? Charge desal prices to the irrigators of South Australia? That is Michelle Lensink's plan, and the people of South Australia should hear more about it; and, if she will not tell them, I will.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: In addition, are they proposing to remove statewide pricing for water? Is that their policy, a policy that shares costs—

The Hon. G.E. Gago: I had heard a rumour.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: —well, indeed, I heard a very similar rumour—of water across the whole state? Are they going to remove that policy to force some customers to pay more for their water? The people of the River Murray deserve to know. The people in the regions of South Australia deserve to know. Is that their plan? Is that their plan: activate the desal plant, remove statewide pricing, drive up water prices for every South Australian water consumer?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Mr President, they really do need to check to see if the plant is actually operating—because it is operating right now—before they open their mouths again. That, of course, Mr President, is gratuitous advice for their own benefit, and I am very happy if they do not take it up.

The time has come for the Leader of the Opposition to come clean and tell South Australians what his plans are for South Australia. We do not know. They are keeping them secret. He can no longer afford to stay silent whilst members of his parliamentary team and his political party make up the policies for him and make ever-increasing budgetary commitments which are not factored in to any plan. What is going to happen come the election? They are going to say, I predict, 'Everything we've promised so far is off. We'll clear the decks. Everything we've already promised South Australia is off and we will start anew.' That is probably what they are going to say, but I remain to be convinced about that. The people of South Australia deserve a capable opposition and, right now, they are coming up incredibly short of that mark.

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