Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Auditor-General’s report No. 21 deals with what I think is perhaps the most important issue for my state of South Australia, and that is water. It is dealing with not only water but also the environment. Those are two very important issues for my state.

As you would well know, Mr Acting Deputy President, in a week and a bit there is going to be an election in South Australia and I think a matter of great concern to all South Australians is probably the behaviour of the alternative candidate for the premiership, Ms Isobel Redmond. In the middle of a very important election campaign, Ms Redmond decided to flee South Australia and come up to Canberra unannounced on what was an extremely busy day. We had the President of Indonesia coming to address the joint houses of parliament, a very rare honour awarded to the President of Indonesia. It was busy not only for the Prime Minister but also for the Leader of the Opposition and all of the government ministers. So we had Ms Redmond flying up at the crack of dawn unannounced, wanting to talk to the government, and presumably the opposition, about water. Is this really the way we want the leader of our state to behave when it comes to dealing with what is the most important issue for South Australians; namely, water?

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

She already thinks that she has won.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, there are certain people who believe that she has won, and it never pays to count your chickens before they are hatched in politics. But I think it would be an issue of great concern to South Australians that their alternative premier decides to come up to Canberra unannounced. At the end of the day, I understand that the government did try and accommodate her, because it is such an important issue, but she was unable to return to South Australia and so missed a full day of campaigning in South Australia.

You might have thought that we would like to take advantage of that, because we have got a very good Premier in South Australia. The fact that you have got the Leader of the Opposition missing in action for a day might lead you to think that Labor wanted to take advantage of that, but that is not the case. We are concerned that this is no way for a Leader of the Opposition to behave. The minimum that you would want to do is let the people in Canberra know that you were coming, tee up an appointment and let them know what you want to discuss. And, if it was at all possible, as the government we would have tried to accommodate Ms Redmond. But you do not hop on a plane and make a surprise arrival and expect the government to be available and ready and able to talk to you. That is not the way you behave as a prospective alternative Premier.

It raises the question of how seriously the opposition is dealing with the issue of water if they behave in that way. Here is the most important issue for South Australians for the election in 10 days time and what has Ms Redmond done: she has turned up unannounced, with no appointment and no indication of what she wanted. We did not even know she was coming up here to talk about water. In fact, I suspect the Leader of the Opposition did not know that she was coming up here to talk about water. He would have been as surprised as we were about what she was doing. I suppose it would have been a surprise for him, because he had a very busy day. We had the President of Indonesia here and he had a number of very important commitments. This was perhaps his first opportunity to step out onto the world stage, if you like, and what did he find? He found that unannounced, Ms Redmond had arrived, wanting to talk to him about water.

I suppose what would have surprised him was what she wanted to say about water. We know what the position of the federal opposition is on water. The shadow minister for infrastructure and water is Mr Ian Macfarlane. He agreed with the National Farmers Federation, which claimed that the basin reform was happening too fast and that too much priority was being given to improving the health of the river instead of agriculture. I have to say that Mr Macfarlane is completely out of touch with the people of South Australia. That is a worry, 10 days out from an election. Mrs Redmond turns up here unannounced and Mr Macfarlane is completely out of touch with what people in South Australia want. What people in South Australia want is more water—

Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is a new government.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, they want good government, and that is exactly what we have been delivering for them in South Australia for the last eight years. I am very confident that in 10 days time we are going to continue to do that. But what they want is water, Senator Humphries. They want water because they have not been getting a fair share of it and because there was an overallocation under your government. There was 12 years of inaction on the issue of water generally. They want us to fix the problem. They want more water. They particularly want water for the Lower Lakes. These are World Heritage sites, some of the most beautiful and pristine parts of the country. I know Acting Deputy President Bishop is very familiar with the area because he spent a lot of his childhood in that region. He will know how pristine that area is. He will know how important the issue of water is. He would be very concerned—if he knew about it—about what Mrs Redmond was doing and what Mr Macfarlane was saying about the issue of water.

South Australians want the water issue fixed, but they want somebody who is going to deal with it seriously. They do not want stunts. They do not want somebody to turn up to Canberra unannounced, without any discussion with either their colleagues or the government. What they want is somebody to seriously take this issue up on their behalf. Of course, there is only one government that is seriously going to do that in South Australia, and that is the Labor government. Very importantly, that government works very closely with what we in Canberra would consider to be the opposition. In South Australia the Minister for Water Security is Karlene Maywald. She is a member of the National Party. She is the only member of the National Party in the state parliament. She is serious about water. If she wants to come up to Canberra she does not just hop on the first plane and arrive here unannounced, having had no discussions with the government or the opposition, and just expect everybody to drop everything and come and talk to her. That is not the way it works. South Australians would be very concerned to know that somebody who wants to take on the top job in South Australia behaves that way. I have no objection to Mrs Redmond coming to Canberra; that is fair enough. But you do not turn up unannounced. If you are serious about a topic, if you want the government—or, for that matter, the opposition—to take you seriously on an issue, then you have to— (Time expired)

Question agreed to.