Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-07-01 Daily Xml

Contents

SA Water

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:11): Supplementary question arising out of the minister's non-answer: I would invite the minister to try to explain to the people of South Australia why they should not conclude after his answers that he is an unadulterated fully-blown hypocrite.

The PRESIDENT: The honourable minister, you do not need to answer that question.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:12): No, Mr President, but it is those opposite who are the hypocrites. They have been in here in this place today on the one hand saying to the government, 'Why are you making these budget savings? Why are you doing this?' and on the other hand, the Hon. Mr Lucas was on radio saying, 'Yes, we accept the federal government's cut $900 million out of the state's budget but we don't want the state government to do anything about that, not to cut its cloth.' This is the only corollary of what they are saying: 'We want the state government to continue to spend even knowing the impacts of the federal Liberal government's budget cuts in this state.' No responsible government could ever do that.