Mary Fisher (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Ah! Less than a fortnight later Labor Premier Mike Rann announced the breathtaking backflip: drippers would again be allowed and, following the state Liberal lead, a desalination plant would be built to supply water to Adelaide.

As commentator Mike Smithson noted in the Sunday Mail on 16 September, rattled Rann ‘was forced’ into an early announcement:

The timing and delivery of this week’s news that Adelaide will receive a desalination plant was bewildering, but one thing is certain – it’s the right decision ... Despite the Government claiming that desalination has always been its idea, the simple fact is that the Liberals have led the charge for many months ...

Where are the state Labor government’s details? Where are the plans? Where will the desalination plant be sited? Premier Rann says the desalination plant will supply 25 per cent of Adelaide’s fresh water, will cost more than $1.4 billion and take up to five years to build. It took Western Australia two years, and New South Wales says it will take 26 months to be up and running. So why five years? Where are the costings?