Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-11-15 Daily Xml

Contents

Water For Good

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:10): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Environment a question on the River Murray and the Water Industry Act 2011.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: I draw the minister's attention to clause 6 of the Water Industry Act, which was proclaimed in 2011. Clause 6 states that the minister must prepare and maintain a document called the State Water Demand and Supply Statement under subclause (1), and it must be reviewed comprehensively every five years under subclause (4). Within 14 days of the finalisation of a regional statement, the statement must be tabled in parliament and published in the Gazette within a reasonable time frame. My questions to the minister are:

1. Why has the government not produced a State Water Demand and Supply Statement since the proclamation of the Water Industry Act four years ago?

2. Is the government trying to avoid transparency and accountability by not publishing one?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:11): I thank the honourable member for her very important question and thank her for giving me the opportunity to respond. No, we are not trying to avoid transparency. The honourable member may not be aware of it (and I will get her a copy if she isn't) but in fact the policy Water for Good is the policy document that deals with demand and supply for the state into the future. It is a thoroughgoing policy document, and I recommend it to the Hon. Jing Lee. She will see, if she inquires into it, that the Water for Good document is the one that will deal with demand and supply statements long into the future.