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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-09-21 Daily Xml
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Reservoir Management

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (14:31): Further supplementary: so is the minister saying that it makes decisions about—

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: Don't put words in my mouth.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: I haven't even got there yet.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The honourable member—

The Hon. S.G. Wade interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: We don't need any help from you, the Hon. Mr Wade. The Hon. Ms Lensink has the call. I want to hear her question in silence.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Thank you for your protection, Mr President. Minister, you can choose to tell me whether I am correct or wrong or not, I am sure. You have not even heard what I have to say. Is the minister saying that part of SA Water's decisions about when it pumps and whether it is pumping critical human needs water from the River Murray into the reservoirs are based on spot prices, and it uses those opportunistically as part of its decision about volumes that it is going to pump into the reservoirs?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:32): Well, Mr President, I never rise to these tricksy lawyer tricks that the Hon. Michelle Lensink is picking up from the Hon. Mr Wade, and others, about 'is the minister saying this'. Just listen to what I am saying and take no more from it than at face value. I have said in this place previously, SA Water has a very complicated system of analysis of when they pump, how much they pump, on projections—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Well, these are experts, the Hon. Mr Ridgway. I do not think you will ever understand it. These are experts who are employed to do this, based on an exquisite level of complicated modelling, and they usually get it right. In their defence, if you are trying to deal with climatic conditions of such variability that we have in South Australia, and which will become even more frequent due to climate change, if they only get it right 99 per cent of the time, then I think they are doing a pretty good job.

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